-By Warner Todd Huston
On Monday, an Illinois middle schooler was told that his U.S. Marines T-Shirt was “inappropriate” to wear in school and that if he didn’t take the shirt off, cover it up, or turn it inside out he’d be suspended.
The shirt Middle schooler Michael McIntyre, 13, wore to school featured a pair of crossed M16 rifles beneath the word “Marines.” The boy’s father, Dan McIntyre, feels that the teacher objected to the depiction of the rifles and that is what sparked her demand that the boy take off the shirt.
The demand was made by Teacher Karen Deverell, a reading and language arts teacher at Genoa-Kingston Middle School, on Monday, February 13. The boy’s father reports that his son followed the orders.
In an exclusive interview, Michael’s father, Dan McIntyre, said, “He’s worn the shirt before, so I don’t know why they said anything this time.”
McIntyre also said his son “immediately complied with the teacher’s demand and told me about it when he came home from school.” He also said that the teacher said that if he didn’t cover the T-Shirt, “he’d be suspended.”
When asked if the school administration said anything to his son, McIntyre said the teacher also went to the principal, but the principal didn’t say anything to his son.
“All I can say is that in this family, we support the Marines,” Mr. McIntyre said.
McIntyre is involved with the Dekalb County Marines organization and the Dekalb County Tea Party group.
Mr. McIntyre supplied a copy of the school dress code that informs students that children may not wear clothing that depicts “violent behavior.” This, McIntyre feels, is what likely served as the teacher’s vague rationale to demand that the Marines T-Shirt be removed. (Click on image to see larger version)
The school has decided not to speak to reporters directly offering a statement on the school facebook page, instead.
The school administration begins by saying they had not been given the chance to weigh in on the incident as it happened, insists that they “support of our military” and regularly encourage students and staff to write letters to the troops and attend patriotic ceremonies for veterans.
“We very much support the armed forces and were disheartened to learn of this matter through the media. The administration and school handbook agree that this shirt is not a violation of the dress code. We also take school safety very earnestly and it needs to be recognized that is a topic that we also take very seriously and support our students and staff in providing a safe environment to learn, teach and work in on a daily basis. We thank everyone for their continued support of our school and our school district.”
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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