[Doglips]

Flag flap in political spotlight

Sunday, October 17, 2004

By DONNA HOROWITZ
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT




Sonoma Valley High students Brandon Downs, 17, left, and Camille Wiles, 17, and graduate Kate Brown, 17, talk with Newt Gingrich at Sonoma's Piatti Ristorante. (CRISTA JEREMIASON / The Press Democrat)
Zoom Photo




Conservative icon Newt Gingrich met with a group of rebellious Sonoma high school students Saturday, saying he was proud of them for defying a ban on flags in their senior class photo.

Gingrich, the Georgia Republican who engineered a GOP takeover of the House of Representatives in 1994, was in Sonoma County for a speaking engagement Saturday night.

He also met with 10 seniors from Sonoma Valley High School, where two students were suspended and a third faces the same fate after refusing to surrender American flags during the class photo session.

"It's such an amazing story and so out of sync with what's going on in the rest of the country," Gingrich said during a 30-minute session on the patio at Piatti Ristorante on the Sonoma Plaza.

When they were invited to meet with Gingrich, some of the students weren't familiar with the former House speaker, who left Congress when they were in junior high. But by the time they arrived, they were eager to make their case for waving the flag.

Brandon Downs, 17, said school officials didn't object when students wore shirts with beer logos, although he noted "that's against school rules."

Camille Wiles, 17, said Latino students wanted to display Mexican flags in previous years, and teachers told her the school wanted to prevent any problems by banning all flags.

The students said school officials told them the class picture wouldn't be sold, and none would be taken next year.

After hearing the students describe how they pulled more flags out of their pockets as soon as teachers came up behind them and took them away, Gingrich said: "You guys are pretty persistent."

He added: "Anti-flag control. That's fairly Looney Tunes."

Ian Stewart, one of the suspended students, attended the session with Gingrich.

Superintendent Kim Jamieson denied that the ban on flags was a response to the appearance of a Mexican flag in last year's senior photo. He said the school simply wanted a photo without props after four years of students displaying flags.

"I think this is really unfortunate this happened," school board President Sandra Lowe said Saturday. "Senior year is a great year for kids. They should have only wonderful experiences."

She said the whole brouhaha could have been avoided with better communication between students and educators.

"It's not about the flag. It's all about communicating," Lowe said, adding that a school bulletin warned students ahead of time that they weren't supposed to be any props - including flags - in the photo. Teachers also confiscated an empty beer keg.

School officials already have grumbled about the media attention, but the spotlight might get even brighter now that the issue has the attention of Gingrich, a regular contributor to the Fox News Channel.

Gingrich aide Rick Tyler said he had contacted a Fox News producer, who was interested in the story.

A similar flap involving the National Football League made headlines last week.

Denver Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer refused to remove a helmet decal honoring former teammate Pat Tillman, who died in Afghanistan after quitting football to join the Army. The league threatened to fine Plummer as much as $30,000 for violating uniform rules before working out a compromise that included posting Tillman's number 40 in Denver's stadium.

Speaking to the students in Sonoma, Gingrich said, "In the middle of a war the idea that you'd say 'no' to students about the American flag is strange, to say the least."

Wiles said "the idea that we can't put up flags is so ridiculous."

Gingrich said "young men and women your age are risking their lives for this flag."

Wiles conceded: "We might have been a little intense, and it could have been handled more calmly by both sides."

But Gingrich defended their actions, saying: "If I was a senior in your shoes, I'd be intense. I think the administration is 100 percent wrong. They ought give you your pictures and have a senior class picture next year."

[whirlwind]

i guess me and my daughters are lucky. their school has an american flag every whare ya look! and they had a big red white and blue ""U.S.A" background made for their class pictures last year.

[Thrawn]

Must be a liberal school, dont want to offend anybody with a flag problem.

[silentknight]

Thats PRK for you

[Sniper[MI]]

Sonoma...sonoma? Oh yes SONOMA Kalifornia...that's the PRK! What were you expecting?

Those kids were fortunate enough to meet with Mr Gingrich tho, that's one upside to the story......

[Dennis]

The School adminstration is very typical
They excercise absolute power
And we all know what happens then.

We hear over and over again and again how school administrators have tyrannicaly oppressive "rulings" on situations that have nothing to do with education and everything to do with the administrators personal political orientation.
many times this political orientation is anti American.
So we have Anti American, American Schools......................
The old saw about Radical Colledge proffesors has trickeled down to high schools and elementry schools as well I imagine.
so the next gereration of Americans
will hate our country and cannot agree on anything?
Mmmmmmmmmmm
sounds like maybe this is allready happening......................

I say right on to the Kids that fought against this tyranny
Allways fly the flag proudly.
I ll bet theres a thousand simular incedents across the country that we never hear about.................