Photo by Flickr user akasped.
That question has divided the community around Cairo-Durham Central School this month.
In early June, the Daily Mail reported that C-D students were flying and displaying the confederate flag in the school parking lot:
Confederate flags have littered the student parking lot the past month with most being displayed on the back of trucks and cars as students appear on school grounds.
At first, school administrators were inclined to allow the flags to fly, the paper reported:
School administrators portrayed the flag waving as a form of expression, and an exercise of their first amendment rights of freedom of speech.
But then reports surfaced that there was more than flag-waving going on:
But some of the flag toting students apparently went to extremes by shouting racial slurs and playing music that referenced racism and hatred.
Last week, Daily Mail reported that the Cairo-Durham school board voted to prohibit students from displaying the confederate flag in the parking lot entirely:
The school board constructed a law revoking any students parking privilege who displayed the confederate flag on their vehicles. The administration had been guided by the schools attorneys to take action once the school’s flow of learning had been disrupted.
“Many students complained about the flags, and felt uncomfortable seeing them on school grounds,” said Cairo-Durham Superintendent Sally Sharkey.
The rule change outraged several parents, who say they are furious that they are being characterized as racists:
“My ancestors fought in the Civil War and died at the battle of Gettysburg, I am proud of the confederate flag,“ said Tim Endress, a parent of a student who attends Cairo-Durham. “I do not condone racism. I do not have a racist bone in my body and I have raised my family the same way.”
Another parent told the Daily Mail that the school board's action amounted to defamation:
“I have four children in the Cairo-Durham school system and they have been harassed at school just for exercising their First Amendment rights. Remember we live in a free country, or so I thought,” said Winegard. “In the High School hallways the school has a mural of an American flag next to the confederate flag, in harmony. “What kind of message is the Board of Education sending to the students, a very negative one if you ask me.”
The day the second Daily Mail article was published, the Cairo-Durham School Board held an emergency meeting. It's not clear what happened at the meeting -- no minutes have been published on the school's website, and the Daily Mail doesn't appear to have a follow-up story.
Confederate flags are no strangers to school property in the Catskills. We photographed one gracing a tractor parked at Delaware Academy in Delhi last year on "Tractor Day."
