School Children Told American T-Shirts 'Not Appropriate' Assistant Superintendent Says Incident Was 'Mistake' Posted: 6:41 p.m. CDT September 14, 2001

PASADENA, Texas -- Most Americans, including children, want to show their national pride by wearing the colors of the United States flag -- the red, the white and the blue. But when two Pasadena children wore T-shirts showing their pride, they were told it wasn't appropriate, according to a News2Houston report.

Because today was deemed a national day of prayer and remembrance by President Bush, Desert Storm veteran Donnie Meyer wanted to pass on patriotism to his two daughters. So, he allowed his 7-year-old and 9-year-old to wear T-shirts with the American flag emblazoned on them to school at McMasters Elementary School.

He never thought there would be a problem.

However, the school's principal asked 7-year-old Ashley to change her shirt because it wasn't part of the school's dress code. The Pasadena Independent School District's assistant superintendent points out that McMasters remembered Tuesday's tragedy during several school programs Friday, and the T-shirt incident was merely a mistake.

The school district maintains that they allow each school to determine their own dress code, but Assistant Superintendent Kirk Lewis said that the Meyer children and other students will be allowed to wear American flags on their shirts on similar occasions like today's remembrances.

Copyright 2001 by Click2Houston.com. All rights reserved. http://www.click2houston.com/hou/news/stories/news-96131820010914-180930.html

-- Rich Marsh (marshr@airmail.net), September 15, 2001