I've a good friend on the O'side school board. I know for a fact she has no anti-US agenda. Nor do any of the teachers I know in the district. Keep in mind that many of the kids on Camp Pendleton attend O'side schools. Race based gangs Black/ Samoan/ Mexican are some of their lessor problems. This is from the local paper - The North County Times.
OCEANSIDE ---- Oceanside Unified School District officials said they were inundated with phone calls Tuesday by angry people who believed incorrectly that the district had taken down all of its American flags as part of a ban to quell immigration-related protests.
The district has temporarily banned individual flags brought to campus by students, but the ban does not apply to the district's American flags already on campus on flagpoles and in classrooms, officials said Tuesday.
The ban went into effect Monday, the first day back to school after the district closed its middle and high school campuses for two days last week in the wake of student protests against proposed federal legislation that would make it a felony to migrate to the United States illegally.
District Superintendent Ken Noonan said the decision to stop students from bringing flags to school was all about keeping children safe on campus.
"Kids who've never carried a flag to school in their lives were carrying flags to school just to make things boil," Noonan said. "We (banned individual flags) this week to reduce the tension and keep the passions down."
District spokeswoman Laura Chalkley and other officials said the district's phone lines were ringing nonstop Tuesday, when the district fielded calls from concerned parents, news organizations nationwide and community members who were under the incorrect impression that the district had banned all flags on campuses, even the large ones that wave prominently in front of its schools.
"Some parents are under the impression that we don't have flags in our classrooms and on our campuses," Chalkley said. "That's been a major misconception. There are flags on campuses and students are still saying the Pledge (of Allegiance) every morning."
Noonan said another major concern expressed by callers and news organizations was that students' civil liberties had been violated because they could not exercise their right to free speech by carrying a flag.
"One of the first things we did (before instituting the ban) was call our attorney," Noonan said. "We were told that we can put some limitations if there is an outstanding reason to do that. This was to create an aura of safety on campus. I think it's calmed things down."
The district's attorney, Dan Shinoff, said he spoke to Oceanside school district officials last week and believes that prohibiting students from bringing flags to campuses is constitutional and appropriate "during the instructional time and anything that would be disruptive to the educational process."
The district's decision cannot be based on the substance of protests, but on violence or threats of violence associated with it, Shinoff said.
"I think as a result of the events of last week, it required the district to be extra vigilant, and the school chose to be on the side of being preventative," Shinoff said.
The focus of the district's decision-making was whether students were at risk, Shinoff said.
"From a school standpoint, the issue is one of articulated potential threats of violence," Shinoff said. "They used their best judgment."
Noonan said he hoped the district can lift the ban on students bringing individual flags ---- American, Mexican, and those of any other countries ---- and "patriotic clothing" to campus by next week.
Meanwhile, American flags were unfurled on campus flagpoles Tuesday throughout the district's campuses and students still recited the Pledge of Allegiance, as they always do. And Tuesday was like any other school day, according to district officials, campus administrators and students interviewed after school.
On Monday, however, two students at El Camino High got into a fight over the immigration issue, according to Chalkley. One student was injured, but since no weapons were used the fight was not reported to police, she said. It is not uncommon for fights to occur on high school campuses, she added.
Chalkley said Monday's fight at El Camino was proof that things could still get heated on campuses.
"The flags were being used to elevate the level of conflicts between students and the feelings are still there," she said. "We need to be cautious. We need to keep the emotions down."
El Camino Principal Dan Daris said Tuesday was calm.
"(Monday) we had an extra (police) officer on campus," he said. "Today, everybody has been doing what they are supposed to be doing."
Oceanside High senior Stacie Garvin, 17, was walking home from school with friends Tuesday afternoon and said campus life was back to normal after last week's protests and demonstrations. She said it's probably a good idea to keep the flags out of students' hands for now.
"Bringing flags to school was never a big deal before," she said. "And now people were just using them to start fights. For the time being, (the ban) is a good idea."
Another Oceanside High senior, Elizabeth Mendez, 17, said she was glad things have been calm. "Some people didn't even know what they were protesting."
![Battleflag[1].png](/data/attachments/23/23699-7a257c84af83a4933480cff4d28cf29c.jpg)
) and they used uniforms. At like five times market value for clothes, they were so uncomfortable and poorly made (they itched 'til they just hurt) to be nigh to unwearable.