SLRC INVESTIGATES STUDENTS’ COMPLAINTS AT 2 FLORIDA HIGH SCHOOLS

The Southern Legal Resource Center has been asked to investigate heritage violation charges involving students at high schools in two Florida counties.

The mother of a student at Mitchell High School in New Port Richey (Pascoe County) reported that school officials ordered her daughter to change out of a t-shirt with a small Confederate flag on the front because, they said, the flag was “representative of racism.” The mother was told by the principal that the demand was made in order to insure “an appropriate school climate that is free from harassment or unrest” although there is no stated campus ban on Confederate symbols. The mother wrote to the principal asking for an explanation, but received no reply. On July 12 the SLRC wrote to the principal on the mother’s behalf, but so far has likewise received no response.

The SLRC is also investigating an ongoing situation at Eustis High School in Lake County. There another female student has apparently been the victim of a series of heritage violations. In May a school secretary demanded that the student remove and hand over some Confederate-themed jewelry she was wearing. Earlier, according to her mother, an art teacher had spray painted over a small Confederate flag the student had used to decorate a pair of jeans. In the same class a pottery cowboy boot the student had made, which was also decorated with a Confederate flag, was broken.

Southern Legal Resource Center