In the tv news story sounds more like the kid/mom were not thrilled with being told his Catholic faith was not the issue but that his wearing the Crucifix meant he was gang affiliated..
Newflash. Public schools are NOT the military! In the military they can also control where you live, what you eat, what you say, and may order you to kill or die.
Military officers are highly trained, live by the same rules they enforce, are subject to rigorous discipline, and tend to have integrity. Public school officials tend to be the most mindless, bottom feeding trolls who fell out of the easiset department at the local community college. The "education" department.
Public school teachers and principles like to THINK they have life or death control of MY KIDS, but they DO NOT. Not morally. Not leagally. Not practically.
People need to play by the rules of the place they accepted going to school and work.
The all-powerful state taxes me at 50% of my income, effectively preventing me from sending my kids to a private school. When I "accepted" sending my kids to Public School, it was an extremely reluctant acceptance, based on limite finances.
It is not all about what an individual wants to do.
I went to catholic school and never had an issue with this. We could wear it all day everyday. This kid might want to consider asking his parents to send them to a Catholic school if his faith is that important.
Catholic schools are private and can make whatever rules they want to. Public schools are public and have to follow the laws of the nation, which include the first ammendment. Not allowing people to wear crucifix's or other symbols of their religion that in no way interfere with the educational environment is NOT OK. It's not neutral. It *IS* part of the Socialist / Atheist plan to make religion the equivelent of gang banging. If you don't know this I suspect you haven't dealt with the public shcools much.
Parents should be willing to shell out the bucks like my parents were.
Private schools cost a LOT more than 20 or 30 years ago. Lots of kids would like to go. For me it was either have the money to send my kids to decent colleges, or send them to private high schools. Both my kids went to excellent PRIVATE colleges, but had to endure public high school. Both fully understood that they were operating in a hostile environment, filled with socialist parasites, liberal toe-sucking freaks, and queer activists - and were trained to behave adccordingly, while still maintaining their autonomy, freedom of thought and personal integrity. It was *NOT* easy, but, for us it worked.