Students Asked To Keep American Flags Out Of Sight By School Admin – Director Johnston Issues Apology, Clears Students Of Any Violations

In a statement issued by Dr. Shane Johnston, Director of Jefferson County Schools –

Thursday, April 29 information came to the office of the Director of Schools concerning a student allegedly being suspended for displaying the American Flag. My office immediately began to investigate and discovered an incident had occurred between two students and an administrator in the school system.

Upon review of the situation, two students were stopped in the hall and asked to place the small attached American flags in their book bags. This request by an administrator was questioned by the students and ultimately the group had a conference in the front office where one student was subsequently disciplined for violation of school rules.

While the student’s discipline was not directly related to the possession or display of the flag, it was in my judgement that the whole issue prompted from the original request of the administrator for the students to place the flags out of sight and, therefore, any consequences set forth toward the student has been removed and further steps have been taken with school personnel to keep a similar incident from occurring again.

I also had a conversation with the family involved and offered my apologies for the events that transpired. Additionally, I assured the family that the school system was committed to each student being educated in an environment that is warm, safe, and promotes academic excellence.

Jefferson County Schools remains committed to respecting the rights of all students and certainly is grateful for the United States Flag, patriotism, and those men and women that have served this nation. This is especially true in education where the United States of America is one of the few countries in the world that is committed to educating all students.