Texas school district bristling after student wears Confederate battle flag to classes

Administrators in Royse City, Tex., are dealing with incidents of racism involving students and now must figure out who the perpetrators are and how to punish them

Melanie Eversley

May 3, 2019

Confederate — (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

School administrators in Royse City, Tex., are reeling after two incidents drawing questions of racism, including one in which a student wore a Confederate battle flag to school in late April, the Dallas Morning News is reporting.

The incident in which a student wore the flag around his neck like a cape touched off complaints by students and activists. In a separate incident, a group of whites in an SUV shouted “white power” to a WFAA television news crew while driving off of school grounds, according to The Morning News.

Royse City school officials have confiscated the flag in question and the student involved in that incident “received consequences in accordance with the board policy,” Supt. Kevin Worthy of the Royce City Independent School District said in a statement posted to its Facebook page on Wednesday.

District officials are working to identify the people involved in the second incident with the SUV and, when they are identified, while imposing the appropriate punishment, Worthy said.

“Racism in any form has absolutely no place in our schools,” Worthy wrote. “Let me be clear. This is not what we stand for. Our student body, staff, parents and community members deserve the best. Racism in any form is disgusting, abhorrent and embarrassing for myself, the school board and this school district.”

Worthy said the school district is working to identify others involved.

One parent was critical of the district’s response to the incident, which was first reported on by WFAA.

“Right now, Royse City just took a step back 100 years because they let that boy walk down there like Superman with a cape around these kids,” parent Eric Price, who has a son in the school, told The Morning News. “And they could do nothing.”

Ericka Ledferd, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens chapter in Rockwall County, Texas, released a statement condemning the incidents that was published in the Royse City Herald Banner.

“The incident occurred at Royse City High School should teach us that nationalism offers no real solutions to the complex challenges we face in our society,” Ledferd wrote. “Let us care about our particular history and still care about the individual history of others. Let us care about our community, and our families, and respect the diversity of others.”