Not sure here if the boys carrying the flag had any intent on being racially inflamatory or not. The question if they should have been expelled or suspended may have depended on what they said and did while carrying the flag and their past record. At first glance expulsion seems a little extreme especially since these kids may have not even known the signifigance of the flag etc. You may want to ask these kids if they even know who won the civil war before we start having a conversation on what was the root cause of the war. The girls on the other hand I think their behavior is appalling if true. While the incident took plp;ace off schools grounds I am sure that the schools code of conduct allows a liberal interpration for the adm. to suspend or expell. While we are on the subject I recall in the 80's when my HS had games against Great Neck South (the "rebels") we were often witness to much confedrate flag waving and grey kepi cap wearing. Does any one know if GNS HS still allows this ?
The boys have been suspended before if the reporting was correct. If these boys didn't know the significance of the flag or who won the civil war st Anthony's has some bigger problem in education then we can address here. Also, the school must address the issues brought up on social media as per the nysed states in the regulations. Regardless, of the private school all schools must follow certain aspects of what the state deems appropriate. Pesonally i think the school shouldn't be responsible for,what goes on over any social media if it isn't school related but that's a different story. I would imagine the parent of these students are not happy. A very difficult lesson to learn but I can't believe none of these students didn't realize this could be wrong. What they probably didn't expect was the severe repercussions. Also if I remember correctly every student with the flag wasn't expelled. So there may be a little more here than we know. Either was this ws and is unacceptable behavior.
