A Michigan school principal criticized students who wore “Make America Great Again” and other pro-Donald Trump clothing during “USA Day” this week.
WWMT reported students at Parchment High School near Kalamazoo celebrated a “USA Day” theme as a part of their homecoming week, which principal George Stamas said was intended to be “fun and unifying.” Instead, he claimed, it created “division.”
In a Facebook post, the Parchment School District explained what it saw as a problem:
“This theme day was meant to be a fun and unifying day for our students this homecoming week. While the majority of students who participated in this day were clad in red, white and blue or USA paraphernalia, a small percentage of students chose to express their political affiliations,” the district said, while not singling out the Trump supporters.
But WWMT said parents complained that the students who wore the pro-Trump gear “made others feel uncomfortable and intimidated.”
It is not clear if any students wore pro-Joe Biden apparel and if Stamas found that objectionable, as well.
“We teach our children to have a voice and they have to stand up for what they believe in,” parent Christina James told the news station.
“There’s nothing intimidating about that, that’s them voicing their beliefs,” she added.
Stamas continued on the Facebook statement:
Parchment High School, and the entire Parchment School District are dedicated to ensuring that all students have a safe and welcoming learning environment. Our community, state and nation are obviously very divided at this juncture in time. We need to be better than this; for ourselves, each other and most importantly, our children. We are sincerely remorseful if a day that was meant for unification turned into division for some. We will not tolerate actions that choose to belittle, demean, threaten or put down others.
According to Mlive, Stamas said the Trump clothing “disrupted” the day, but did not provide specifics about what the students allegedly did, other than wear the apparently objectionable gear.
He said “we must come together” to “ensure that our students have a memorable and fun homecoming week/educational experience.”
“I don’t know why anybody would be intimidated by loving their country, it should’ve been a fun day and I know my son and his friends were super excited about it and it was kind of ruined for them,” another parent told WWMT.
While Stamas did not detail any action taken against the students, he said that he would be “addressing the entire student body on these issues” the following day.
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for The Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
