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Schools

Schools won't ban flag clothing

The proposal was meant to address safety issues, but it could have invited lawsuits.

By ABHI RAGHUNATHAN
Published June 23, 2005

BROOKSVILLE - A proposal that would have limited students to wearing only the American flag on apparel has been abandoned because of legal concerns.

Superintendent Wendy Tellone said that the proposed ban had been withdrawn because School Board attorney Karen Gaffney had advised it might open up the district to lawsuits. Board members were to vote on the ban, among other changes to the Student-Parent Handbook, on Tuesday.

In addition to forbidding all students from wearing the Confederate flag, the change would have also kept students from wearing any flag except the Stars and Stripes. The only exception would have allowed students to wear flags if they were attending "a designated ethnic recognition activity held at school."

The proposed flag ban was drafted by a district committee examining changes to the student code of conduct and the Student-Parent Handbook. The committee's recommended changes were approved by several top school district officials, including Tellone, according to the agenda item submitted for board approval June 6.

Barbara Renczkowski, president of the Hernando County Council of PTAs and a member of the committee, said the ban was proposed because of concerns that students might wear the Confederate flag to school. The committee then expanded the ban to include all flags except the American flag, Renczkowski said.

School Board members applauded the decision by district staffers to yank the proposal just before the Tuesday night meeting. They said the ban had been inspired by safety issues, not by any effort to discriminate against flags.

"This was not directed at any particular group," said School Board member John Druzbick.

Many school districts, including Hernando, give principals the authority to restrict students from wearing clothing that causes a disruption. But the American Civil Liberties Union has called blanket bans on flags unconstitutional because they are too broad.

School Board member Sandra Nicholson questioned the ban. She wondered at the logic of preventing students from wearing Reebok sneakers since they display British flags as logos.

"I like my Reeboks," she said.

[Last modified June 23, 2005, 00:45:20]