Sunday, November 14, 2010

School Reverses Course After Ordering Student to Remove American Flag From Bike

Update on my previous post follows:

Cody Alicea, 13, rides his bicycle with his American Flag attached.
A California school has done a U-turn after it forced a student to remove an American flag attached to his bike, saying the Stars and Stripes could spur racial tensions on campus.

Cody Alicea,13, had been flying the flag on the back of his bicycle for almost two months to show support for veterans like his grandfather, Robert Alicea.

But just in time for Veterans Day, school officials at Denair Middle School told Cody he would no longer be allowed to display the flag, citing complaints from other students.

Now, after a public outcry, the school has decided that the grand old flag can come back.

Superintendent Edward Parraz says the school was trying to avoid racial tensions that stemmed from a "little issue" that arose when Hispanic students brought Mexican flags to school on Cinco De Mayo.

"That's when it all kind of started, and I think it carried through so that when Cody started doing his flag everybody said well why isn't he getting in trouble?" Parraz told Fox40.com.

Click here to see Parraz's interview with Fox40.com.

So the school asked Cody to remove the flag, both to keep the peace and for his own protection.

"It was a safety concern that that particular campus supervisor called at that particular time based on information she had heard," Parraz said.

Cody says he complied with the request to avoid trouble, but he asked the school to reconsider because he believed the decision was wrong.

Click here to see Cody's interview with Fox40.com.

"I'm supposed to be free in this country and I should be able to fly the flag wherever I want to," he told Fox40.

Apparently, he wasn't alone.

Parraz says the school got flooded with so many complaints from upset parents both inside and outside of Denair that he was called into to "handle the situation."

"It was crazy" he said.

Parraz says the school decided on Friday to allow Cody to display his flag again, and now it will be shifting its focus to the students who complained.

"In no way did we want to take that right away from Cody," Parraz told Fox40 on Friday. "…We think we know who the instigators are that were trying to do that and we need to meet with their parents and those students to just kind of explain that this isn't what we want to have. We want to make sure that our kids can appreciate a safe environment and be able to have the American flag."


If you read my blog regularly, you probably have noted that I don't usually take on HOT topics. But in this instance, I felt compelled to express my disagreement. What do you think about that? Do you want to know what I really think about stuff?

p.s. I haven't let the original issue/dispute drop. I'm in the middle of email exchanges with the School Board. I continue to dispute the original decision and the fact that they waffled after the controversy does not make it all better with me.

5 comments:

Tancho said...

A perfect example of the egregious meltdown caused by political correctness run amok.

Mike Nickell and Cynthia Johnson said...

ARGHHH!!! I can’t tell you how incensed I am about the whole thing. It is just so wrong. It reminds me of a friend's story about going to a parent-teacher conference in San Diego (friend being native English speaker) and the conference was in Spanish! When the friend complained at the conference that she did not understand Spanish she was told that she should have asked for an interpreter (or something along these lines) prior to the event. I will always remember thinking, why in the hell would an American need to ask to have information translated from something other than English?

Mike Nickell and Cynthia Johnson said...

In case no one heard it - ARGHHH!!!

Unknown said...

History, it teaches much too well
Nations, had to rise up before they fell
And my eyes see the story they're tryin' to tell
And tonight I think I heard the final toll of the bell
We better bend a little one way or the other
You got to leave your mind open to discover
(J.B. - of course!)
Hi guys! It's been too long! I didn't know you were back in WA - I checked (unsuccessfully!) on FB then dug through some old bookmarks & found your link.

I agree with your "ARGHHHH!" (and I'm not even American!) I seethed when reading your Hard Rock experience as I've been there, done that (just not at Hard Rock!) I used to have a special place (on the rooftop where I worked) where I'd escape and use primal therapy after "I've been had!" moments like that. I wonder what people in that neighborhood used to wonder if they ever heard my howls. A margarita would probably have also helped but I was working... Keep in touch.

Mike Nickell and Cynthia Johnson said...

HELLO Wendy! Leave it to you to quote Mr. Jimmy Buffett - have you seen him recently? He played Portland in Oct, but we didn't make it. :( Check the blog back in May 2010 when we packed our bags in Salem, Oregon and headed home. It's great to hear from you and say hello to Gary for us!