Parents, ACLU want apology over T-shirts

Potomac News ^ | Tuesday, April 4, 2006 | DANIEL GILBERT

[chambley1]

Anderson Urrutia, 8, complained of a headache on Sunday night. Then his tummy started hurting. At 2:15 a.m., he walked into his parents' bedroom and asked if he had to go to school. "I don't want to get in trouble again," he told his mother.

Anderson, a second-grader at Occoquan Elementary School, went to school on Monday with 5-year-old kindergartner Joseph Soriano after the two were not allowed to attend class Friday for wearing T-shirts that were deemed potentially disruptive by the principal.

Printed in large blue letters with red trim, the T-shirts stated in Spanish "Latino Forever" on the front and "100% Latino" on the back.

The incident -- which touched off a flurry of media attention and sparked a complaint from the American Civil Liberties Union -- is being brushed off by Prince William County schools officials.

Side-stepping interview requests from media, Phil Kavits, the school system's spokesperson, maintains that Friday's incident was a case of "a principal's best effort to keep his school safe and orderly, and nothing more."

The ACLU contends that the principal overstepped his bounds to limit the students' freedom of expression, and is asking for an apology to both students and parents.

The parents say it is too late for an apology.

Maria Urrutia and her daughter Carmen Soriano accompanied their sons to school Monday and had a brief interaction with Occoquan's principal, Todd Erickson.

"He was like, 'How're you doing guys?' " Maria said.

It wasn't the response she and Carmen had hoped for.

"I don't feel I should have to ask for an apology," Carmen said. "As an adult you know when you cross the line, you know when you should apologize, and he hasn't."

Maria and Carmen were contacted Friday afternoon and asked to come to Occoquan to speak with Erickson. When they arrived, they found their sons eating lunch on the floor of the main office, and no sign of the handmade T-shirts.

"They were buttoned all the way up to the top," Maria said. "You couldn't even know if they had a T-shirt underneath or not, that's how covered up these kids were."

Kavits heard a different account from Erickson, who said that the second shirts "didn't even button up, and left the whole thing visible."

Maria and Carmen said Erickson wanted the students to remove the T-shirts. That's when they took their sons home.

Three days after the event, Maria and Carmen are still smoldering over what they see as an unwarranted punishment of their children.

Maria worries about the lessons her son might learn from the event.

"If I stay quiet, what is that saying to my child?" she said. "That they can treat him like a dog and not apologize."

MORE THAN T-SHIRTS?

Friday's incident took place in the midst of a week of student protests against harsh anti-illegal immigration legislation pending in the Senate, an outburst of student political activism that ACLU Executive Director Kent Willis says is unprecedented in his experience.

"I don't recall anything like this on this scale in Virginia," said Willis, who has worked with ACLU in the state since 1987.

A Prince William County schools media release on Monday pointed out the danger lurking in such protests, referring to a student protest in Springfield when a student was stabbed.

Despite concerns for student safety, Willis says Erickson's preemptive action -- which the Occoquan principal made in part out of a concern that some of his students might join the protests -- does not meet the judicial criteria for such a decision.

First amendment rights are protected in schools unless it is demonstrated that an action will "materially and substantially" disrupt the learning environment, according to Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969).

In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a student who wore a black armband to protest the war in Vietnam was protected under First Amendment rights.

Willis acknowledged that the school officials have some leeway in making a decision where there is a strong basis to prevent freedom of speech.

For example, a "blatantly racist remark" on a T-shirt in an integrated high school where fights had broken out in previous cases might warrant preemptive action, he said.

What is unusual about the Occoquan case, Willis says, is the age of the students.

"These kinds of cases almost always develop in high schools and sometimes middle schools, where kids are educated enough to develop opinions on social issues and want to express them," he said.

THE AFTERMATH

Occoquan has yet to respond to the ACLU's request for an apology and a statement affirming the protection of students' free speech. Maria and Carmen have not decided on a course of action, but they've made an appointment with a lawyer. Meanwhile, Anderson and Joseph continue to attend school.

When she picked up Anderson at school Monday, Maria asked her son how his day was.

"OK," the second-grader said. "I had a headache all day long."

[OB1kNOb]

God bless you for your service to America, soldier.

[rock58seg]

Maria worries about the lessons her son might learn from the event.

And all of us should worry about what she has not learned from the event.

Build the wall....Secure the borders.....Then we can discuss amnesty.

[robertpaulsen]

"You misinterpret my initial post."

Ummmm, I don't think so.

"I merely posed it as a question."

Yeah, I saw the little "?" at the end and assumed that.

"That is all."

Really. Seems to me that you're implying some cultures get a pass and some don't. You're missing the point. The T-shirt was deemed potentially disruptive by the principal. It's immaterial what it said or what was pictured on it.

[daybreakcoming]

I do not believe in this hyphenated and "culture" crap. You are here, you either ARE an American or you strive to be one. America is where a person's first loyalty should lie. Not with the country of their ancestors or Allah.

Agreed with your entire post but I feel strongly about the above statement. I have grown so weary of the hyphenated American.
Thank you for the post and thank you for your service to this country.

[robertpaulsen]

"Which is the whole reason the parents made the 8yo and 5yo kids wear the t-shirts to begin with."

Handmade t-shirts.

[Republican Wildcat]

Yes, they would - to see to it they were banned from the school.

[zook]

I'm not sure. What do you think? Basically, I think a school has the authority to impose dress policies as long as they are consistent. I'm even willing to grant a principal some leeway in times of strife to temporarily bar certain things that might spark trouble.

My problem here is (1) are Latinos being singled out and (2) the amount of hatred being aimed by some at a mother looking out for her 5 year old child.

[robertpaulsen]

"However, we don't know the dress code ..."

That's the beauty of it. We don't need to know it. It is sufficient to know that the dress code bars T-shirts deemed potentially disruptive by the principal.

If the student can't figure that out, then the parents may assist the student. In this manner, the student learns to use judgement in making decisions, something which will be of benefit to that student after graduation.

[zook]

And, I suppose, there will always be some judgment required as to what constitutes a "political" message.

But the biggest problem I see on this thread is the animosity aimed at a Mexican-American (I assume she is American, since the article doesn't claim otherwise) looking out for her boy.

[little jeremiah]

Kids that age don't know or care what race they are unless someone has force fed them. Maybe 8, due to peers and "culture" stuff. Maybe times have changed. But when my kids were small, little kids didn't notice or care about race, what to speak of nationality.

The kids are being used as pawns, here and elsewhere.

[xsmommy]

the problem is the mothers are the ones using their 5 and 7 year olds as billboards for their own political message. she is looking out for her child, but she caused the problem in the first place.

i live in NoVA and was frankly surprised to hear this was a huge issue here (my kids are all in private schools and wear uniforms so this would never happen there). But i heard that a kid was actually knifed at an immigration rally last week here. latinos are being singled out only to the extent that they are the ones that are making this an issue.

[sgtbono2002]

Exactly. If these kids are allowed to wear these T-Shirts Confederate shirts should be just as legal.

If we allow Freedom of Speech for one it is legal for all.

Of course the ACLU dosnt want to hear that.

[tumblindice]

I think the school, in loco parentis (`in place of the parents') should be allowed discretion to determine what is and what is not "disruptive'. The ACLU can squawk, but a confederate flag or `Latino Power' shirt may fall within the former, while something else is allowed.
I suppose extreme libertarians would allow `see-through' tops for girls, but school kids are ostensibly there to learn, not make political statements.
I suppose the ACLU--and NEA, if the truth be known--might take the opposite position. `Trees have standing', blah blah blah.

[Gingersnap]

While we're all whining for apologies, maybe the Westminster school district out here can apologize for forbidding middle schoolers to wear any clothing featuring the colors red, white, and blue in combination.

[speed_addiction]

My problem here is (1) are Latinos being singled out and (2) the amount of hatred being aimed by some at a mother looking out for her 5 year old child.

If she had been as proud of being the mother of an AMERICAN kid as she was of him being Latino, there would have been no problem. If Latinos are being singled out it is because they are doing it to themselves. It is my view that unless your are willing to be an American before being Latino, Irish, Muslim or Black, you are basically nobody.

I am very proud of my Mescalero Apache heritage. It is why I have always worn my hair as long as I do (except for my stint in the Army), but it does not take a higher position than being an American.


What We Are About To Do Here Is What The Good Lord Would Call A Cleansing of the Wicked. I Call It A Good Old Fashioned Texas Ass Kicking.

[xsmommy]

Because this happened in Northern VA, i am doubting she is Mexican American. More likely she is a Salvadoran immigrant, that is by far the most common hispanic immigrant group in this area.

[zook]

"...she is looking out for her child, but she caused the problem in the first place."

Aren't we mixing up a lot of things here? No one wants anyone to get knifed and I'm not comfortable with using kids in politics. But this is just a t-shirt. Maybe the mom shouldn't be making such a big deal out of it, but the same might be said for the principal. As others have said, there are a lot of little kids wearing "cute" little Italian, German, African, pick your ethnic group t-shirts.

I was mainly taken aback at the first poster's "bitch" comment.

[Shimmer128]

And I assume she's an illegal law-breaker. Why would your assumption be any more valid than mine?? No reason.

As for the headache, he's probably got allergies.

[zook]

/Because this happened in Northern VA, i am doubting she is Mexican American. More likely she is a Salvadoran immigrant, that is by far the most common hispanic immigrant group in this area./

Okay, thanks.

[zook]

"And I assume she's an illegal law-breaker. Why would your assumption be any more valid than mine?? No reason. "

I always go with the innocent until proven guilty thing. It makes for a more civilized discussion.