California Teens Sent Home for Wearing US Flag Shirts

Author's Note: Most of you know me as Manic Motherhood, author of a humor blog. But one of the hats I wear is as a journalist for the Examiner.com. This article stems from an incident in the tiny town a few minutes from my own tiny town. I'm reprinting it here to see what all you feel about it. I will be updating my story today (you can check for the update at Examiner.com) and I promise I will not use any of your comments. I simply want to know what you think about this issue.

Cinco de Mayo is usually a day of celebrations. But in Morgan Hill, a small, Silicon Valley town, Cinco de Mayo got a bit ugly and certainly a lot less festive. In fact, by late morning, five teen boys had been asked by administrators to leave Morgan Hill's Live Oak High School because they were wearing t-shirts and bandanas with American flags on them-turning this small town and one of its high schools into a national focus point for First Amendment rights.

According to published reports, the Live Oak High School students were sitting at break, talking and eating--doing what teen boys do at break during a long high school day. They were approached by assistant principal Miguel Rodriguez and asked to remove the American flag bandanas the boys wore. After they did so, Rodriguez reportedly told the boys to walk with him to the office.

In the office the boys were told to turn their t-shirts inside out or be sent home. The teens said that the assistant principal told the boys that they were singled out because the t-shirts were "incendiary and would lead to fights on campus." Administrators also told the boys that if they went back to class without turning the t-shirts inside out, it would be defiance and the teens would be suspended.

One of the boys called his mother, who alerted the other boys' parents. During a conference with the parents, Rodriguez, and Live Oak principal Nick Boden, the parents and boys apparently decided to take the boys home, rather than reverse the shirts.

According to the teens, additional students were wearing t-shirts with the American flag on them, as well as students dressed in shirts with Mexican flags. There have been no reports of other students asked to either leave campus or turn their t-shirts inside out.

The Morgan Hill Unified School District does not agree with the decision of the Live Oak administration and released the following statement: "The district does not concur with the Live Oak High School administration's interpretation of either board or district policy related to these actions."

The boys were allowed back on campus Thursday and one report states that at least one of the boys was wearing an American flag t-shirt to school that day.