A group of students at a Westminster middle school were suspended Thursday for wearing patriotic clothing that honored the U.S. flag or military.
But in response to the Colorado attorney general’s warning that a ban on patriotic clothing violates state law, Shaw Heights Middle School principal Myla Shepherd lifted the ban late in the day, effective this morning.
Sixth-grader Katie Golgart and three other students were given one-day suspensions after wearing U.S. Marines T-shirts or shirts with American flags.
“Shepherd said I had two choices: Change or I would be suspended,” Katie Golgart, 11, said. “I wanted to support my grandpa in the Marines.”
Students at Shaw Heights plan on holding a rally this morning to protest the ban. Eric Golgart, Katie’s father, an organizer of the rally, said a Marine platoon is expected to be there in support of the students. Other students have said they will distribute hundreds of American flag T-shirts.
Last week, Shepherd banned flags and overtly political clothing, camouflage clothing, banners and bandannas after several tense incidents stemming from disagreements over immigrants’ rights, including one in which about 25 students wore camouflage on one day.
“She’s been a very good principal up to this point,” said Elizabeth Hass, 11, another student suspended for wearing a Marines shirt.
Shepherd did not return phone calls Thursday, and an Adams County School District 50 spokeswoman declined to comment.
Katie Golgart said at least four students, including her, were sent home for the day.
A posting on the school’s website late Thursday announced that Shepherd had ended the dress code as of 8 a.m. today “due to the exemplary behavior of the students at Shaw Heights Middle School and the progress made throughout the week, as well as Attorney General John Suthers news release regarding the display of flags in schools.”
Meanwhile, Gov. Bill Owens on Thursday chided schools that prohibit students from wearing red, white and blue or from respectfully displaying the flag.
“I don’t believe we should be at a point where to fly our nation’s flag or to display it respectfully should ever be out of order,” Owens said.
Shaw Heights was one of two area schools that in recent weeks enacted bans on flags and patriotic clothing.
The issue erupted in late March when a group of students at Longmont’s Skyline High School used American flags to taunt and harass students who were demonstrating in support of immigrants’ rights. In response, Skyline principal Tom Stumpf issued a ban on all flags.
Suthers said Thursday that Shepherd, but not Stumpf, violated a little-known state law that protects an individual’s right to display the U.S. flag.
“They can’t do that,” Suthers said. “They can’t keep them from wearing a pin on their lapel or an American flag T-shirt.”
The law, enacted in 2003, has no enforcement provisions. No penalty is specified in the statute, but parents could sue schools that don’t comply, Suthers said.
Suthers said Stumpf did not violate the law because Stumpf imposed the ban as a disciplinary measure to protect the safety of students.
“They can prohibit conduct, like an Anglo kid waving an American flag in the face of Hispanic kids, or vice- versa,” Suthers said.
At Suthers’ urging, the commissioner of education issued a reminder Thursday to school superintendents across the state about the law.
Suthers said the reminder was in response to what he described as a “talk- show fervor” around Colorado schools that have prohibited flags.
Education commissioner William Moloney said he’s never run into an issue with the statute before.
The American Civil Liberties Union weighed in against a ban on flag displays and said “students’ right of expression in public schools should be given as much room as possible,” according to a statement from ACLU attorney Mark Silverstein.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-820-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
