With Election Day nearing, a debate is raging over a poster seen at a Crown Heights school.

Neighborhood residents say the poster, which features a likeness of Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and other prominent black leaders, is a source of pride. However, critics say the poster is a form of electioneering and should not have been hanging at the entrance of M.S. 61 on Empire Boulevard.

The poster was taken down Tuesday at the insistence of the Department of Education. The dispute about the poster's display comes amid a crackdown on political expression in schools. The United Federation of Teachers recently sued the DOE over the rights of teachers to wear campaign buttons in classrooms.