I do have a problem with this. It is kids like this who perpetuate the myth that Rebel Flag stands for racism. Lee and Jackson would be rolling over in their graves if they knew how the Flag was being exploited. This was inappropriate any way you look at it, and I strongly support the right for a state or individual to display the Rebel Flag.
I'm not defending the kids. I'm just noticing that race is specified for just about every player in this drama--except for the accomplice, Kevin Meyers. Which leads me to believe that he is almost certainly non-white. Probably black, because if he were, say, Asian, they'd probably have said so.
I don't see from the article how you arrive at this conclusion. I'm from the north but now reside in Houston Texas. My family is from Southern Indiana and I had relatives that fought on both sides of that war. I have no problem with the Southern rationality of states rights as the primary motivating factor for the Civil War. Slavery was an abomination but was already doomed by the Industrial Revolution. These kids have as much right to celebrate their own heritage as any one else. My guess is that if they had asked to display this proud symbol of the South, they would have been laughed out of the principals office.