Parents Take Action After Virginia Student Punished For Flying American Flags In His Truckbed – 'I Should Be Able To Represent The Flag'

Earlier this week, a family from Virginia decided to pull their son out of school after the high school came after him for a policy claiming that he could not fly American flags in the back of his pick-up truck. 

Christopher Hartless goes to Staunton River High School in Bedford County, Virginia where the school decided to revoke his parking pass after the student refused to remove the American flags that were on the back of his truck. According to WSET 13, Hartless claims that he is simply exercising the freedom of speech granted to him by the First Amendment. 

“My family fought for America and I feel like I should be able to represent the flag that they fought for,” he said.

Despite his defense, the school district is standing firm in demanding he remove the flags. Last Wednesday, the student was asked twice by the school administration to remove the large flags from the back of his truck, claiming that they were a distraction to other students. He refused both times he was told and the school responded by revoking his parking pass.

"I don't understand how it's a distraction if they have one on the flagpole that every other student can see," Hartless complained. 

His stepmother, Christina Kingery, and he have decided that they will be pulling Hartless out of the school district to homeschool him for his last year. Kingery said that since his parking pass is revoked and they don’t want him riding the bus, this is the decision they’ve reached. 

"If they're willing to change and let kids want to fly the American flag, then I'll put him back in Staunton River... possibly put him back in Staunton River, but if they don't, then I'm going to continue to let him fly his flags," Kingery said on the matter. "I think that every student doesn't matter what you believe in, what flag you fly, as long as it's not harmful and it doesn't disgrace our country, you have the right to fly it."

The school district sent out a message on the matter over the weekend, writing "The student parking contract, which has been used by all 3 of our high schools for many years, states, 'Large flags or banners are not allowed to be flown or displayed on vehicles due to their distractive nature.'"

“Please be assured that we proudly fly the American flag throughout the school, and the Pledge of Allegiance is recited every morning," it added. 

WSET 13 reached out to the school district for further clarification where they stated that other forms of expression such as “small American flags or stickers of the American flags” are welcomed expressions in the district. The only concern is the “large flags or banners” that were mentioned in the rules that a student had to sign “prior to obtaining the parking permit.”

The situation ultimately becomes an unfortunate case of patriotism being caught in the crossfire of school bureaucracy. Hartless, while violating the rule the school had in place, ultimately didn’t do anything wrong. Simply expressing his pride for his country shouldn’t be punished, but ultimately a rule kept in place to prevent other problems got him unfortunately punished.