The Latest: School boss bans Confederate flag clothing

PLUM, Pa. – The Latest on a Pennsylvania school district where a black student was upset that a classmate wore a shirt depicting a Confederate flag (all times local):

5:45 p.m.

A Pennsylvania school district where a black student was upset that a classmate wore a shirt depicting a Confederate flag says after more students went to class wearing Confederate flag clothing it must be banned.

Plum Borough School District Superintendent Timothy Glasspool says on the district’s website the clothing has become a distraction. Earlier he said a student had a right to wear a sweatshirt depicting a Confederate flag even though it upset a black student and her father.

He says three students wore the clothing to school Friday and two were asked to leave class after refusing to remove it.

He says the district has received more than 50 complaints about the issue.

Parent Rob Williams complained to the high school administration after his daughter expressed concerns about the clothing. He tells the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette he warned her their complaint might spark such a reaction from other students.

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3:45 p.m.

A Pennsylvania school district superintendent says a student has a right to wear a sweatshirt depicting a Confederate flag even though it upsets a black student and her father.

Plum Borough School District Superintendent Timothy Glasspool tells the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://bit.ly/2huyFDn) courts have determined officials can’t prevent the student from wearing the sweatshirt unless it disrupts the school day. Glasspool says the student has been asked not to wear the sweatshirt but has refused in part because his father believes he has a right to wear it.

Robert Williams is the father of the 11th-grader offended by the sweatshirt. He says Confederate flags “imply things that aren’t very nice” and represent slavery and bondage.

Glasspool says “one student’s rights clashes with another” in this instance.