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REBECCA CATALANELLOSome students remain defiant in a bid to tout their Southern heritage, and still wear the Confederate flag.
HUDSON - Hudson High School principal Greg Wright had to talk to them one on one.
It was Day 3 since students and faculty arrived on campus and found a Confederate flag flying over their 1,592-student school. Four students had been suspended, two had been arrested, and the discussion about what had happened still was fresh.
Just when Wright was hoping things would start to settle down, the news of the event was plastered in the morning's papers and students were walking the campus with copies of the article in their grip.
"There's probably no one who's a bigger redneck than me," Wright decided to tell a defiant 14-year-old girl who was hell-bent on wearing her Confederate T-shirt despite a new campuswide ban. "I appreciate my Southern heritage, too."
But at this moment, in this school, he told freshman Rebecca Doolen, wearing the Civil War-era battle flag was just not appropriate.
By the end of the day, there was a short tally:
Three students who were wearing the flag on their clothing Friday, including Doolen, were sent home without being suspended. A fourth opted for in-school suspension. And about a half-dozen more, Wright said, decided to change their clothes.
The stakes will be higher next week.
"I think we got through the day with minimal disruption," Wright said long after Friday's 2 p.m. dismissal. "Come Monday, they're going to face suspension."
As is the case in the surrounding Tampa Bay area school districts, Pasco County's dress code allows students some discretion in what they wear. But once a principal identifies that an article of clothing is creating a disruption, he has the power to ban it.
"Last week, it was okay to wear that flag," English teacher Shannon DiLandro said Friday. "This week, for our little subculture (of this school), the meaning of that symbol has changed."
Doolen said she'll withstand the threatened three-day suspension come Monday because she thinks to back off would depict the Confederacy as a "wuss."
"I'll go out three days," Doolen said. "(Then) I'll be back Thursday and I'll wear my shirt."
Hudson has dealt with race issues before, but Wednesday's flag raising flared tempers enough that one emotional black student was arrested, accused of pushing a school employee and a police officer after arguing with a white student she was questioning about the event.
Minorities comprise less than 7 percent of the student population, with blacks numbering 16, according to district figures.
Several students told the Pasco Times this week that issues of race are a common occurance at Hudson. But it's an image that teachers and parents said many are struggling to overcome.
"This has been ongoing," parent Tamara Cooper said. "They get in their little cliques and it just goes from there. ...I think it must be the parents. Apples don't fall very far from the tree."
During second period Friday, school officials got on the intercom system and invited students to attend a meeting of the Unity Club, a student organization trying to foster understanding between ethnicities.
Last month, 18 students showed for a meeting. On Friday, it was up to 50, sponsor Pam Censullo said.
"Mainly what they were feeling was a little bit of anger," Censullo said. The students gathered into small groups to talk about the incident and where the school should go from here to try to put an end to hurt feelings.
A second meeting tentatively was planned for next week. Censullo said she hoped the school would be able to turn a painful event into some meaningful change and understanding on both sides.
"I hate to see the strife this has caused," Censullo said. "Because it's a nice community we have here usually. Let's hash it out and move on."
- Staff writer Steve Thompson contributed to this report. Rebecca Catalanello covers education in Pasco County. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6241 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6241. Her e-mail address is rcatalanello@sptimes.com