A high school student in Towson, Maryland, who has enlisted with the U.S. Marine Corps, was allegedly suspended until April 8 over an issue about American flags at his school.
Eighteen-year-old Parker Jensen noticed the flags were allegedly absent from two of his classrooms, despite a state law that dictates they must be displayed there, Fox News reported on Thursday.
Now, Jensen has taken legal action and is suing the school district over what he claims was wrongful suspension from Townson High School.
In February, the young man escalated the matter to school leadership. When nothing was done he kept trying and eventually went to the Baltimore Board of Education to get some answers.
Per the lawsuit, he went to the board’s office to file a formal complaint, signed in as a visitor, and recorded what happened. However, a supervisor reportedly told him to stop recording and exit the building even though young man was apparently not being disruptive. He refused to leave the building and several officers were called to the scene, the lawsuit said, adding that officers claimed Jensen needed to be a credentialed journalist to film at that location.
According to Local 12, School Safety Emergency Manager Richard Muth told Jensen he was being suspended from his school while at the scene.
Other instances involving students and American flags across the nation have happened in the past few years. In 2023, a teenager in Virginia refused school leadership’s orders to remove American flags from his truck, per Breitbart News.
Another high schooler in Indiana who said school officials told him to remove an American flag he had on his truck refused to comply, the outlet reported in March 2024.
In addition, a protest erupted in Oklahoma when students were told they could not fly the American flag on campus.
According to the Fox article, Jensen claims his school has promoted leftist causes and argued he has faced pushback for supporting the military, border security, and expressing support for President Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Meanwhile, the Baltimore County Public School system claimed Jensen’s campus had already been working on placing the flags in the classrooms.
In a statement to Fox, Jensen said in part, “I believe my persistence in standing up for patriotism may have opened others’ eyes to the importance of patriotism in our school systems.”
“At the end of the day, I believe it was beneficial, not just for me, but for the entire school community. It serves as a reminder that it is our responsibility, as citizens, to hold our government accountable and I believe I did just that within my school,” he added.
