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DENVER — Colorado’s attorney general said Thursday that the state’s school districts could not legally ban students from reasonably displaying United States flags.
The statement from Attorney General John Suthers came after two schools in Westminster and Longmont banned flags from any country because of increased turmoil from confrontations over the debate of United States’ immigration policies.
Suthers referenced a state statute that guarantees the right to reasonably display the United States flag on a person’s body or property.
“While schools can and should act to prevent conduct by students that interferes with the education process, their remedy must be narrowly tailored and cannot include a general ban on displaying the American flag,” Suthers said.
Suthers asked Commissioner of Education William Moloney to send a copy of the law to all Colorado superintendents. Lawyers from the attorney general’s office also have contacted lawyers for the school districts where Shaw Heights Middle School and Skyline High School are located, communications director Kristen Hubbell said.
Shaw Heights principal Myla Shepherd banned flags, overtly political clothing, camouflaged clothing, banners and bandanas last week after several incidents, including one in which about 25 students wore camouflaged clothing on one day. Skyline High School Principal Tom Stumpf has said he enacted the flag ban after American flags were brazenly waved in the faces of Hispanic students and a Mexican flag was thrown into a student’s face.
Phone messages left Thursday for Adams County School District 50 and St. Vrain Valley School District, which is on spring break this week, were not immediately returned.
The flag bans quickly became fodder on conservative talk shows and radio programs. The Colorado Senate voted Wednesday to punish schools that ban respectful displays of the U.S. flag.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, sent a letter to Shepherd criticizing what he called an “unpatriotic policy.” Tancredo said the ban led to a student being reprimanded for wearing red, white and blue clothing.
“As a former educator, I am frankly shocked by how far afield the public education apparatus appears to have wandered,” he wrote.
Shepherd said Thursday in a letter to Tancredo that he was her teacher in the 1980s at Arvada West High School, but the congressman said he never taught there. District officials could not immediately verify either claim.
Shepherd scolded Tancredo for not having all the facts, writing that students could wear any color combinations they choose and that students carrying flags sparked disorder, disruption, racist remarks and threats.
“Helping my students learn tolerance and respect for our democratic principles while in a safe, orderly learning environment is my priority,” she wrote. “It is also something you taught me to stand for when you were my high school social studies teacher.”
The statement from Attorney General John Suthers came after two schools in Westminster and Longmont banned flags from any country because of increased turmoil from confrontations over the debate of United States’ immigration policies.
Suthers referenced a state statute that guarantees the right to reasonably display the United States flag on a person’s body or property.
“While schools can and should act to prevent conduct by students that interferes with the education process, their remedy must be narrowly tailored and cannot include a general ban on displaying the American flag,” Suthers said.
Suthers asked Commissioner of Education William Moloney to send a copy of the law to all Colorado superintendents. Lawyers from the attorney general’s office also have contacted lawyers for the school districts where Shaw Heights Middle School and Skyline High School are located, communications director Kristen Hubbell said.
Shaw Heights principal Myla Shepherd banned flags, overtly political clothing, camouflaged clothing, banners and bandanas last week after several incidents, including one in which about 25 students wore camouflaged clothing on one day. Skyline High School Principal Tom Stumpf has said he enacted the flag ban after American flags were brazenly waved in the faces of Hispanic students and a Mexican flag was thrown into a student’s face.
Phone messages left Thursday for Adams County School District 50 and St. Vrain Valley School District, which is on spring break this week, were not immediately returned.
The flag bans quickly became fodder on conservative talk shows and radio programs. The Colorado Senate voted Wednesday to punish schools that ban respectful displays of the U.S. flag.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, sent a letter to Shepherd criticizing what he called an “unpatriotic policy.” Tancredo said the ban led to a student being reprimanded for wearing red, white and blue clothing.
“As a former educator, I am frankly shocked by how far afield the public education apparatus appears to have wandered,” he wrote.
Shepherd said Thursday in a letter to Tancredo that he was her teacher in the 1980s at Arvada West High School, but the congressman said he never taught there. District officials could not immediately verify either claim.
Shepherd scolded Tancredo for not having all the facts, writing that students could wear any color combinations they choose and that students carrying flags sparked disorder, disruption, racist remarks and threats.
“Helping my students learn tolerance and respect for our democratic principles while in a safe, orderly learning environment is my priority,” she wrote. “It is also something you taught me to stand for when you were my high school social studies teacher.”
