Who in MA Could Be Offended by US Flag?

We're not talking about the Confederate flag. We're talking about the US flag.

Yet apparently there's a student in this elementary school class whou would be offended by an American flag.
(Well, there's always 2 sides to the story. If the kid should have been doing other work but drew a flag instead...perhaps as a protest for being told to do work he didn't want to do....should he be rewarded for his disobedience by having his artwork, whatever it might be, displayed? Seems it will come down to the word between the teacher and the student, though presumably every other kid in the class would have heard their exchange.)

The article doesn't say, but I'd really like to know why this particular student would be offended (if it is indeed true that he was told this.) Is he or she living illegally in the US but being gven a free education? I would think they'd be very proud of the country that violates its own laws to give illegal folks the same rights and privileges it gives citizens.

Or is it just the teacher deciding the child should be offended at the flag, without even asking the kid?

Regardless, the American flag should need no apology. This is a sad day in Massachusetts!

Controversy over child's flag drawing
Teacher allegedly refused to hang up picture
Updated: Thursday, 12 May 2011, 11:45 AM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 11 May 2011, 4:55 PM EDT

Matt Caron
ORANGE, Mass. (WWLP) - A civil rights controversy is brewing at an elementary school in the Town of Orange, and it all surrounds an 11 year-old's drawing of the American Flag.

The family of Frankie Girard is claiming that their son's civil rights were violated after a teacher allegedly told him that hanging his picture of the American flag would offend another student.

The Butterfield Elementary School is at the center of controversy for the incident on Monday. According to Frankie Girard’s father, John, the boy was in art class drawing a picture.

"He was denied hanging the flag up. And, he asked if he could just even hang it on his desk, and he was told no. He could take the picture that he drew and take it home and be proud of it there,” Girard said.

So, that is where it is, among the hundreds of other family pictures and military honors that adorn the walls of the Girard family home.

According to his father, the teacher told Frankie that his drawing of the American Flag would offend one of his classmates. "We’re allowing him to display his civil rights and be proud of who he is, but we’re denying Franklin those same rights," Girard said.

22News tried to contact the Superintendent, Dr. Paul Burnim. He refused to go on camera, but told 22News over the phone that nobody ever told Franklin the drawing was offensive, and said the only reason it wasn't hung was because Franklin was supposed to be doing other work; not drawing a picture. In a statement he said: "Each of our schools flies the American Flag every day. At the Butterfield School, the Pledge of Allegiance is recited by students and staff. And the other schools recite the Pledge of Allegiance at least once per week."

The controversy is stirring heated debate within the Town of Orange. "I served 15 years in the military so that we could hang the flag wherever we wanted to, so I'm very offended," Faith Sullivan of Orange said.

A Facebook group called “I support Frankie Girard and the U.S. Flag” already has about 700 likes in two days.

The superintendent told 22News that Frankie's father is "going to extremes" and that the school has always respected the American Flag.

Frankie's father told 22News that he is so outraged that he placed a call to the American Civil Liberties Union

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