PJ Media’s Megan Fox had the story of 12-year old Jaiden being sent home from the Vanguard School in Colorado Springs because he and his mother were told the Gadsden flag had “its origins with slavery and the slave trade.”
I suppose if you look long enough, hard enough, and with a vivid enough imagination, you can claim that any symbol of America has something to do with “racism” and “slavery.”
That’s what this school official did, anyway. The unnamed, uneducated “educator” told Jaiden to go home. Unfortunately for her, Jaiden’s mother was recording the whole thing.
Meet 12yo Jaiden who was kicked out of class yesterday in Colorado Springs for having a Gadsden flag patch, which the school claims has "origins with slavery."
The school's director said via email that the patch was "disruptive to the classroom environment."
Receipts in the 🧵 pic.twitter.com/qQ8jK1zSpR
— Connor Boyack 📚 (@cboyack) August 29, 2023
On the drive home from the meeting where Jaiden was told he could no longer bring his Gadsden Flag-adorned backpack to school, Jaiden recalled an incident from one of his favorite books — one of the “Tuttle Twins” series — where the characters went to the news station for help with a legal problem.
So mom and son went to the local NBC affiliate. They were quickly disabused of the notion that an American media outlet — in existence because of the First Amendment — wanted anything to do with a story about, well, protecting said First Amendment.
That’s when mom and son reached out to the author of the “Tuttle Twins” series, Conor Boyack. Mr. Boyak, President of the Libertas Institute, posted the video of the chat between mom and the uneducated educator online, and the whole story blew up.
Jaiden should sell this and monetize his new fame 🤣 pic.twitter.com/YjKjpKRAny
— Connor Boyack 📚 (@cboyack) August 30, 2023
It turns out that even Democrats with more than two brain cells in working order realized the outrage committed by the Vanguard School. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis came out four-square in support of Jaiden and the Gadsden Flag.
“(The flag is an) iconic warning to Britain or any government not to violate the liberties of Americans,” Polis, a Democrat, said in a response to another user on X. “It appears on popular American medallions and challenge coins through today and Ben Franklin also adopted it to symbolize the union of the 13 colonies. It’s a great teaching moment for a history lesson!”
The Gadsden flag is a proud symbol of the American revolution and a iconic warning to Britain or any government not to violate the liberties of Americans. It appears on popular American medallions and challenge coins through today and Ben Franklin also adopted it to symbolize the… pic.twitter.com/sroNXnlJsf
— Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) August 29, 2023
Sorry, Mr. Governor. But the “teaching moment” here is not history. It’s current events. This is how fragile our freedoms are that some tyrannical, ignorant educator can snatch them from us at a moment’s notice. Just because the Constitution says we’re free doesn’t mean squat unless we fight for that concept every day.
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But the story of young Jaiden isn’t quite over. There’s the little matter of the Vanguard School altering history. It appears that the real reason Jaiden was sent home was because of other patches on his backpack — something no one brought up until after the video went ballistic.
A school district official said in a statement to USA TODAY that the Gadsden flag patch was among a half dozen other patches on the student’s backpack, some depicting semi-automatic weapons.
The student had first come to Vanguard last week with the backpack displaying the patches, one of which also referenced alcohol, according to an email provided to USA TODAY that Vanguard’s board of directors sent to families on Tuesday.
Vanguard administrators consulted with Harrison School District 2 administrators, who directed the charter school to inform the student’s parents that the patches were not permitted under its policy, the email says. But on Monday, the student returned to the school with the patches still visible, which prompted administrators to pull him from class and have the meeting with his parents.
“The student has removed the semi-automatic patches and returned to class without incident,” Mike Claudio, assistant superintendent of student support for the district, said in the statement. “As a school district, we will continue to ensure all students and employees can learn and work in a safe and nurturing environment.”
Boyack pushed back on the administration’s response.
“So now tens of millions of people have seen this story and brought pressure on the school, they are now saying it was concern over the firearms patch, but that’s B.S. because none of the video has anything to do with that. They were targeting this Gadsden flag patch, and really, they are just trying to cover their butts right now,” he said.
Boyack is demanding “accountability.” We need to see some kind of “reprimand, discipline or fire someone,” Boyack said Wednesday on Washington, D.C.-based WMAL’s morning radio show.
Getting hysterical enough about a patch depicting a weapon to call a kid’s parents and send a child home from school is beyond idiocy. It’s insane. How does a patch of anything threaten anyone or anything? How does a patch of a gun make a school less safe?
I sincerely hope Jaiden learned some valuable lessons from this incident. And the best lesson he could possibly learn is “Don’t Tread on Me.”
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