Students sue over rebel flag actions
By LISE FISHER
Sun staff writer
Two students suspended from Santa Fe High School last year for displaying the Confederate battle flag have filed a federal lawsuit against the Alachua County School Board alleging a violation of their constitutional right of free speech.
Franklin Jay "J.J." Scott Jr. and Nicholas Thomas, both 17-year-old juniors, were suspended from the Alachua County school in the fall, the lawsuit states.
Scott had a small flag on his truck's antenna and was suspended for two days. A zoning exception allowing him to attend Santa Fe also was revoked, the lawsuit said. Thomas wore a T-shirt titled "Legends in Gray" showing Confederate soldiers marching through a field carrying the flag. He wore the shirt twice and received two one-day in-school suspensions.
"You can't penalize Southerners or people who have Southern heritage from their own expression of their own pride," said Tampa lawyer Frank Jakes, who is representing the students and their families.
"Students have First Amendment rights that they do not give up the moment they walk on school grounds. In the absence of a disruptive effect, they have every right to display appropriate symbols.
"There was no unrest in any way in which the flag was a catalyst," Jakes said.
A staff attorney will have to review the lawsuit, Grace White, spokeswoman for the school district, said Tuesday.
"Based on our policy, our dress code, our code of conduct, usually what happens is, if any kind of dress is not conducive to a learning environment or any type of behavior is not conducive, than we have to deal with it quickly and appropriately," White said.
Alachua County's school policy states that students must "dress in a way not offensive to others or inappropriate at school and at school-sponsored events including, but not limited to, exposed underwear, saggy/baggy pants, clothing promoting drugs, alcohol, tobacco, gang identification, weapons and/or sexual behavior" and "not disrupt the learning process."
Under a "free speech" section, the policy states that students must "recognize the rights of others by expressing yourself in a manner which does not disrupt the orderly process of education, violate school rules, or infringe on the rights of others."
Laura Scott, Franklin Scott's mother, said she wasn't aware of racial tensions at the school that might have prompted concerns.
"I do not think that he was displaying it in any way that would cause problems," she said. She said he had been told before about showing the flag. That day, he rolled up the flag and put a tube over the antenna.
"Out of respect of what he had asked them, he had actually put it away," Laura Scott said. "Even though he did put it away, they still revoked his zoning."
Her son, who now attends Buchholz High School, has relatives who were Confederate soldiers, she said.
His forefathers include his great-great-grandfather and great-great-uncle, who fought at the Battle of Olustee in 1864, the lawsuit states. A re-enactment of the battle is held annually near Lake City.
The other student's relatives could not be reached Tuesday.
When the 2000-2001 school year began, the lawsuit states, Franklin Scott learned from Santa Fe employees and administrators that the School Board had decided to ban displays of the Confederate battle flag. "Innumerable" students at Santa Fe were disciplined or told to remove the flag or clothing depicting the flag.
At that time, School Board members and Santa Fe Principal Lamar Simmons received a flurry of e-mail about the situation, many from other parts of the country.
"We who live in the South believe our students should be allowed to honor their Southern heritage, even by wearing historical shirts," Elijah Coleman wrote. "If you have class troublemakers, then that should be handled on an individual case basis."
"Unfortunately, you have now become a part of this ongoing trend of cultural genocide of all things Confederate," wrote G. Elliott Cummings, a past commander for the Maryland Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
The Florida Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is supporting the lawsuit.
Simmons, who has been principal at the school of 1,164 students since the mid-1990s, did not return calls Tuesday.
University of Florida law professor Fletcher Baldwin said lawsuits like this generally "don't stand a snowball's chance in hell" and are usually filed for notoriety.
But, Baldwin said, the School Board's defense could be hurt by "the underlying equal protection component."
"Are you just outlawing that Confederate flag or outlawing all symbols of hate, or what are not hate symbols but unfortunately have been made symbols of hate?"
If rules aren't applied uniformly, the School Board could be viewed as taking sides, he said.
"The School Board can't take political sides in an issue like this."
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Just want you guys to agree that the flag does represent slavery to a certain extent. Sorry that I didn't list every single reason why the war started. RyanH was talking about slavery and the flag, so that's all I spoke about. Both sides have points. I see how people would say, it's just a flag, but to others it's not. it reminds them of how their family members were used as tools. One definitely out-weighs the other. Ok I'm gonna dead this now, because I don't want any bad blood with you guys, like I said before you're a cool bro Golfer and this is the type of shit that stirs up probs PEACE.
