It happened too fast, Superintendent Wes Smith said. The
decision by Live Oak High School’s assistant principal and
principal to send home four students because they were wearing
American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo was simply made too
quickly.
It happened too fast, Superintendent Wes Smith said. The decision by Live Oak High School’s assistant principal and principal to send home four students because they were wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo was simply made too quickly.
Live Oak Principal Nick Boden was not at a press conference held at the school district office at 11:45 a.m. today, but did issue an apology addressed to the Live Oak community. In it, Boden apologized for the impact the controversy made.
“In this situation, I may have moved too quickly in drawing the line of when to take preventative action,” Boden wrote.
Many students at Live Oak today decided – on their own – to wear white to show a sign of solidarity among their peers.
“In some respects, our students can teach us a lot about how to engage appropriately in that conversation,” Smith said at the press conference that was held in the school district boardroom and attended by seven news agencies.
Smith’s focus is on the safety of the students and allowing the children to go to school normally and learn. Many senior students are taking Advanced Placement tests today and Saturday.
“We want to get back to what’s normal and not the show that have been in the street in front of the school,” Smith said.
The national media attention has been a test for Live Oak and Smith said it was unfortunate that adults were using what happened to leverage their personal agendas .
“The bloggers, talk shows, social networks and self-proclaimed experts who have never set foot on Live Oak tried to create an image that is simply not true,” Smith said.
Several students leaving Live Oak after school Thursday were counting aloud the number of TV news vans outside their school.
“Seven! There are seven,” junior Stephen Sandhu said as he pointed and yelled back the numbers to his friends.
“It’s blown out of proportion,” Sandhu said. “We couldn’t even really concentrate in class, everyone was distracted” by the media, he said.
Live Oak’s senior prom will continue as scheduled Saturday night, Smith said. The school is still determining whether or not to increase the security presence at the dance. But Smith said he expects prom to happen without a hitch.
Smith said that Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez and Principal Nick Boden’s decision was made too quickly.
“This was never about whether students were allows to wear patriotic clothing on our campuses. They can. It was about ensuring that our high school campus was orderly and safe,” Smith said.
The dress code policy will not change, Smith said, as it does not prohibit students from wearing patriotic clothing, but does prohibit students from wearing clothing, headgear, or symbols related to gang activities such as red or blue belts or one glove, which are identifiable gang affiliations.
The internal investigation is an ongoing process, Smith said, with no update as to if disciplinary action will be taken against the Live Oak administration.
Live Oak has a student population of about 1,400, 40 percent of which are Hispanic and 50 percent are white.
