California Middle School Student Chastised for Drawing American Flag; Student Who Drew a Picture of Obama Praised

Joe Schoffstall | May 10, 2010
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Just last week, five students were sent home from a school in California for wearing American flag tee shirts on Cinco de Mayo, which was deemed as ‘offensive’. Now, another fight over the American flag is in progress this time in a middle school art class in California’s Santa Rita School District. (h/t JWF)

As reported by Fox News Radio Reporter Todd Starnes, Tracy Hathaway, of Salinas, CA, stated her 13-year-old daughter was ordered to stop drawing the American flag and start another project at Gavilan View Middle School. “She had drawn the flag and was sketching the letters, ‘God bless America,’ when the teacher confronted her,” Hathaway told FOX. “She said, ‘You can’t draw that – that’s offensive.” Perhaps more startling is another student, in the same art class as the student who drew the American flag, made a picture of President Obama and was praised by the same teacher who scolded the other child for drawing the flag. Hathaway said she took her concerns to the principal – and he was “floored” and apologized for what happened. He arranged a meeting with the Hathaways and the teacher. “My husband point-blank asked her what she found offensive about the picture – the American flag or the words, ‘God Bless America,’” she said. “The teacher didn’t say a word.” Hathaway said she was especially concerned that a picture of President Obama was praised yet a picture of the American flag was deemed offensive. “That showed where she stood in the political spectrum,” she said “But this was not a political class. This was not a religious class. This was an art class. “ “My daughter wasn’t trying to break any rules and she wasn’t trying to create a scene,” she said. “She was just expressing her view and saying this is America and I want God to bless it.” The superintendent of the schools, Mike Brusa, sent Fox a written statement that he contacted the principal and said the issue was “taken care of to the parents satisfaction.” The girl has not received an apology from the teacher. Instead the teacher told her that she should have never gotten her parents involved. Make sure you check out this Fox & Friends interview with the student involved:

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