Friday, February 14, 2025

Foreign flags removed after some students complain

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After a student ripped down a Palestinian flag hanging in Glenbrook North High School in Northbrook, Illinois, on March 4, school officials took down the flag along with other national flags that were hung, reports Marissa Fernandez in The Torch, the school’s student newspaper.

The flag, a symbol of national pride, was initially hung in February at the request of a group of students, a testament to their desire for inclusivity and cultural representation. However, the school soon began receiving complaints from Jewish students who expressed discomfort and a sense of insecurity, leading to the flag’s removal, according to Scott Williams, instructional supervisor of social studies.

“You have to do something that fits the culture of the school,” he was quoted as saying, “and you have to balance the mission of education with potential disruption to the school environment.”

In addition to the Palestinian flag, all other national flags, including those brought in by students from China, Iran, and other nations, were removed from the hallways at Glenbrook North. School officials have yet to announce a plan for hanging them back up next year or in the future.

The Register-Guard in Eugene, Oregon, reported a similar issue when a middle school math teacher, Jenoge Sora Khatter, hung a scarf with a pattern of the Palestinian flag in his classroom at Spencer Butte Middle School. Despite a strong showing of community support, he took down the scarf at the insistence of an unnamed school official. The scarf was up for a total of 56 hours.

However, the removal of the scarf sparked a debate at an April school board meeting, where 11 passionate individuals voiced their support for the right to display the flag, underscoring the strong community sentiment surrounding the issue.

“It is not a neutral action,” Nellie Schmitke-Rosiek, the student representative of South Eugene High School, which is fed by Spencer Butte, was quoted as saying. “Removing that flag communicates to [District] 4J students, not just at Spencer Butte, that this is the topic that we can’t talk about, that we shouldn’t talk about, that there’s something taboo about the Palestinian flag, and that sympathy with Palestinian suffering is somehow wrong or out of balance.”

An armed conflict between Israel and Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups has been taking place mainly in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023, following the kidnapping of more than 200 hostages. Clashes have also occurred in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and with Hezbollah along the Israel–Lebanon–Golan Heights border.

In an interview broadcast Sunday in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled that a ceasefire might be some distance off. He said he was “prepared to make a partial deal — this is no secret — that will return to us some of the people,” referring to the roughly 120 hostages still held. “But we are committed to continuing the war after a pause in order to complete the goal of eliminating Hamas. I’m not willing to give up on that,” the Associated Press quoted him as saying.

In the US and around the world, particularly on university campuses, protests have demanded institutions of higher learning divest from Israel until a permanent ceasefire can take effect.

Paul Katulahttps://news.schoolsdo.org
Paul Katula is the executive editor of the Voxitatis Research Foundation, which publishes this blog. For more information, see the About page.

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