A popular local diner in Foxborough, Mass. where high school student Morgan Truax works, purchased a full page in her school’s yearbook. What should have been a congratulatory gesture quickly turned into a controversy.
School officials banned a photo of Truax standing with the American flag from the yearbook because the school deemed it “disrespectful.”
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The student’s mother Lisa Truax called attention to the controversy when she posted on Facebook that her 18 year-old daughter “just wanted to show her patriotism” via her senior photo. The post amassed over 8,000 shares in a little over 48 hours.
“The issue here is the explanation I received from FHS was, they will not allow this photo because they were uncomfortable with the American flag in the background,” the Facebook post reads.
The school says the manner in which Truax showed her patriotism was insolent towards the symbolic nature of the flag.
“We take respect for the United States flag very seriously, as it is the most important symbolic representation of our national pride,” FHS Principal Diana M. Myers-Pachla told NewsCenter 5.
She claimed the real issue was that “the photo showed the United States flag, hanging on a wall, with the lower portion lying on the floor, and the student standing on the flag.”
Foxboro Veterans Services Director Michael Johns told the Sun Chronicle “the school made the hard but correct decision to not allow publication of the photograph.” Johns says while the girl had no “ill intent,” the flag was improperly used. Currently, a compromise amongst the family and the school featuring a cropped image is in the works.
