www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/10/19/224325.shtml

Students Disciplined for Displaying American Flag

More: Sen. John Edwards 'Outlaws' the American Flag

Two California high school students were suspended last week after they refused to surrender American flags they displayed during the class photo session.

In the week before the photo, seniors at Sonoma Valley High School in Santa Clara, Calif., had been notified in the daily bulletin not to bring any flags or other "props" with them to the shoot, according to the Sonoma Index Tribune.


But suspended senior Ian Stewart complained to the paper, "The administration was totally wrong ... Last time I checked, the American flag was not a 'prop.'"
On Monday a small but enthusiastic group of 25 to 30 students assembled outside the SVHS to wave flags and shout "U.S.A.!" at passing cars.

"We live in America; we should be able to express how we feel about [being American]," Alexa Karia told the paper.

She, along with several others, cut classes on Monday to participate in the demonstration in support of the right to display the flag.

Officials at SVHS said they were merely trying to enforce a ban on all flags in student photos, but former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich isn't buying it.

He traveled to the school on Saturday and met with the patriotic rule-breakers in a dramatic show of support.

"It's such an amazing story and so out of sync with what's going on in the rest of the country," Gingrich said during a 30-minute meeting with the students, in quotes picked up by Tuesday's Washington Times.

"In the middle of a war the idea that you'd say 'no' to students about the American flag is strange, to say the least," the influential Republican complained.

School officials however, said their side of the story was being ignored.

In recent years tense conflicts have erupted over students brandishing different flags, they said, with disrupters waving banners, toting blow-up dolls or wearing inappropriate clothing with tobacco or alcohol logos.

"The staff wanted to have a photograph that focused on the students, not props," District Superintendent Kim Jamieson told the Index Tribune. "This issue was not about the American flag or political correctness; it was about decorum and comportment."

During last week's photo shoot, officials said, students showed up with an empty beer keg, beer cups, replicas of pot bags and T-shirts with alcohol logos - in addition to Old Glory.

Vice Principal Kathy Henderson said that when she tried remove the inappropriate items some of the students became abusive and pelted her with obscenities.

The danger, of course, is that American flags might be permitted while other flags are not. That would suggest that the American flag has some sort of privileged status not shared by, say, the Palestinian flag or the Chinese flag. Can't have that.

Quoted: The danger, of course, is that American flags might be permitted while other flags are not. That would suggest that the American flag has some sort of privileged status not shared by, say, the Palestinian flag or the Chinese flag. Can't have that.

Plus, if they establish a "zero-tolerance" policy, they have effectively removed from themselves the responsibility to THINK.  

Quoted: That would suggest that the American flag has some sort of privileged status

IT DOES

I think any school that suppresses the display of an American Flag should automatically lose its federal funding.  If they are too ashamed to display the symbol of this great nation, then this great nation can stop paying their bills        

Quoted: Plus, if they establish a "zero-tolerance" policy, they have effectively removed from themselves the responsibility to THINK.

+1

Quoted: Vice Principal Kathy Henderson said that when she tried remove the inappropriate items some of the students became abusive and pelted her with obscenities.

You ever been hit with a thrown obscenity?  Damn, that can sting...

Quoted: Quoted: That would suggest that the American flag has some sort of privileged status IT DOES

 That is the "DUH" smiley, isn't it?

Screw the VP.

Good to see their are a few kids left with a brain in CA.

Quoted: Quoted: Vice Principal Kathy Henderson said that when she tried remove the inappropriate items some of the students became abusive and pelted her with obscenities. You ever been hit with a thrown obscenity?  Damn, that can sting...

No, but I tripped over a &@*$^#!* once, and cut my finger trying to open a *@$%^!#^$#* another time. You've got to use extreme caution around obscenities.

Those brainless twerps equate an empty beer keg to the American flag?

Hang 'em high from the rafters!  

This reminds me of that Fire Dept. in Florida that got banned from flying the flag by the City right after 9/11.  What kind of moronic leadership is allowed in this country?  Sheesh!

Quoted: I think any school that suppresses the display of an American Flag should automatically lose its federal funding.  If they are too ashamed to display the symbol of this great nation, then this great nation can stop paying their bills

+1

Quoted: Two California high school students were suspended last week after they refused to surrender American flags they displayed during the class photo session.

Something about that just PISSES ME OFF!  

Wonderful that we're to the point of kids being forced to SURRENDER THE AMERICAN FLAG!

WTF!?!?!?

Surrender the American Flag.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: That would suggest that the American flag has some sort of privileged status IT DOES  That is the "DUH" smiley, isn't it?

Wow, so I pay respect to a prop every day. How stupid of me.  First, for signing up to defend a prop, and second for not realizing the American Flag was one.  What a waste of 20 years.

Quoted: Quoted: I think any school that suppresses the display of an American Flag should automatically lose its federal funding.  If they are too ashamed to display the symbol of this great nation, then this great nation can stop paying their bills         +1

+2

Luckily my old high school still flies Old Glory high every day. But of course my former high school is not in California, so that likely explains it.

I am getting so sick of high school politics these days We went to one of the local high schools for the "please go to college" programs that they have, and they ask various college students to attend. We got there at about dusk and a janitor took the American flag off the pole, and drapped it over a railing by the steps into the school. We walked over. I asked "You take the flag down every night?"  He responds "Yeah, everynight before we leave one of us does, the VFW said it wasn't respectful to fly it at night without a light on it." I'm a little surprised that they just didn't get a light, but not as surprised as this... "So do you fold it?" "Nah, I just throw it over there" "Oh okay... on the railing there... where birds crap on it." "Well, it's a lot of work to fold it every day and then put it back up" "Well a lot of work went into making it mean what it does to a lot of people" "Yeah I guess that's true" Soooo a couple of us folded it up and brought it inside with us and gave it to the VP and said "Look yeah it's a piece of fabric, but it makes your school look really SHITTY if you can't even give it the minimum amount of respect that it deserves being the flag of our Nation." He gave us some BS about how he didn't know and that he would look into fixing. Two weeks later I drive by, the flag is over the railing...

I'm pretty sure that I was justified in saying something, it's one thing if a private citizen does it, it's still sad and wrong, but a public school? There has to be at least one person with more respect & brains than that.

Quoted: I think any school that suppresses the display of an American Flag should automatically lose its federal funding.  If they are too ashamed to display the symbol of this great nation, then this great nation can stop paying their bills

+1000!!!

What a crock of shit.  Just another example of why our beautiful country is in trouble.  When school administrators and students are unable to discern the symbolic difference between an empty beer keg, the flags of other countries, and OUR flag, we have a BIG problem.

This shit PISSES ME OFF!!!

Freedom sometimes means people are going to do something that you do not like or agree with.

Does that mean we block freedom to suit our beliefs or needs?

In my grade school, I was in charge of folding up the flag every day.  I was a responsible little 4th grader.

I do recall the flag detail at school, now that someone else mentioned it.  I remember people trying their hardest to get put on that detail.  Every morning the flag was raised by students and everyday after school the kids would lower it and fold it.  The flag was then stored in the Principal's office until the next morning.

Cool, I'm glad that memory came back to me...

Quoted: Quoted: I think any school that suppresses the display of an American Flag should automatically lose its federal funding.  If they are too ashamed to display the symbol of this great nation, then this great nation can stop paying their bills         +1000!!! What a crock of shit.  Just another example of why our beautiful country is in trouble.  When school administrators and students are unable to discern the symbolic difference between an empty beer keg, the flags of other countries, and OUR flag, we have a BIG problem. This shit PISSES ME OFF!!!

+ (~)³²