Flag bandana earns suspension for Forest Grove High student

School officials disciplined a pupil who wore a complete USA-themed outfit to campus and flouted the district dress code by wearing banned head gear.

------------

A Forest Grove High School student was suspended Friday, May 19, for wearing a bandana on campus after being warned multiple times to refrain from doing so.

School administrators say bandanas are banned because of their connection to gangs.

But the incident turned political because this particular bandana sported an American flag design.

When a Forest Grove woman encountered the student and his father in town later that same day, she snapped a photo of the teen and posted it to the News-Times' Facebook page along with a pointed message:

"I don't very often voice opinions on politics, religion, race or other subjects that might be controversial, yet tonight I am disgusted and angry about something I learned today," wrote Eunice McAlvin, who moved to Oregon from the Atlanta, Georgia, area two years ago.

According to the student's father - who declined to be identified for this story - his son, who is Korean-American, was suspended for one day.

FGHS Assistant Principal Brian Burke called "and said 'We have a small problem ... not a big problem," recalled the father, who said his son wore the bandana because he runs track and "he has very long hair." He said the teenager had worn the same outfit a number of times over the last two years.

"He's a very good kid. He's very respectful of the American flag," said the father, who questioned the school officials' punishment. "Why no flag? Why is that?"

For her part, McAlvin was astonished and incensed.

"I took a picture because I couldn't believe what I was hearing and seeing. I have his permission to post the picture. I've seen students going to school wearing bandanas that represent their ethnicities so this one completely shocked me when it represents our nation's flag and colors," she wrote to the News-Times. "In my opinion, there are real issues worth suspension, and this is not one of them."

Her post on social media prompted a number of supportive comments.

"You did the right thing speaking about the demonization of being American in America," wrote one person. "It sounds like this kid was treated unfairly and punished for voicing his opinion. Last time I checked we still had the right to freedom of speech ? this school went too far."

In McAlvin's photo, the student, whose name and grade in school are protected by a confidentiality policy, was still wearing what he'd worn to school that morning: head-to-toe red, white and blue garb, from his shoes to his shorts to his tank top - and finally, to his bandana.

Specifically, it was his choice of head gear that got him into trouble, according to FGHS Principal Karen O'Neill.

"As a dress code rule, we do not allow bandanas of any kind," said O'Neill. "It does not matter what is displayed, or the color - we do not allow bandanas to be worn during the school day."

Bandanas have been banned in the district for at least 13 years to help curb gang activity, O'Neill said.

A district policy covering "Secret Societies - Gang Dress, Attire and/or Property," says the following:

"Certain clothing, personal property and other adornments worn or exhibited for the purpose of identifying youth gang membership or youth gang support clearly interfere with the learning process and school climate."

No. 8 on that list of banned items is "head gear, i.e. hairnets, wraps or bandanas" - even bandanas depicting the Stars and Stripes.

McAlvin - who spent her career working for the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of the Interior and various other federal agencies - thinks that's ridiculous.

"It seems to me to be stupid and a waste of taxpayer money," she said, adding that the student's outfit was "so well coordinated, so clean" - and that it didn't display any slogans.

But O'Neill said it was more than just the bandana. Students who flout dress code rules "are typically given one, maybe two warnings," she said, before receiving consequences for defiance. "In this particular case, the student was talked to at least four times - possibly five or six when you include different staff members."

O'Neill also offered an example of how school administrators had honored this same student's freedom of speech in a different situation. More than a year ago, she said, during student body elections, the student had Photoshopped his face onto a campaign poster of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, along with a slogan along the lines of "Make FG Great Again."

Despite complaints from some students who were offended, O'Neill said FGHS officials honored the student's freedom of speech rights and let the posters stand. "The posters were not taken down and [there were] no consequences of any kind."