Ohio High School Reinstates Football Players Suspended For Carrying Flags On 9/11

Little Miami (OH) football players Brady Williams and Jarad Bentley have been reinstated after a suspension for defying their school's order not allowing them to carry a thin blue line and thin red line flag onto the field for a game on September 11.

Williams, whose father is a police officer, and Bentley, whose father is a firefighter, admitted to defying the school, but they said there was no political motivation by carrying the flags. They just wanted to honor those who've sacrificed for society.

The Little Miami school district says it investigated the matter and concluded there was no political motivation here.

Bobbie Grice, President of the Little Miami Local Schools Board of Education, wrote the following reinstatement letter:






While the district understands these students’ desire show their support of our first responders especially on the anniversary of 9/11, they did not obtain permission from district officials to do this," "School administrators must act when students break the rules, and these students were suspended from practice while the incident was investigated.

With the Boards’ support, the superintendent and high school administrators have completed the investigation. The results show there were no political motivations behind this display of support for first responders on 9/11, but there were stances of insubordination.

Moving forward, Little Miami is returning the players to active status and this matter will be addressed as an Athletic Department Code of Conduct issue, with any potential consequences to be handled by coaching staff.

Little Miami Local Schools is saddened to see this story take such a negative turn. The district enjoys an outstanding relationship with our local police and fire agencies. In fact, the Patriot Night program Friday night featured a script recognizing first responders, information about what happened on 9/11, a poem celebrating those who sacrificed their lives and a remembrance ceremony with a moment of silence. We regret that such a moment of solemnity was somehow lost in this event.

As the season continues, the only two flags that will come through the Little Miami football tunnel are the flag of the United States of America and the Little Miami spirit flag. The Board of Education supports this decision of district administration.






 

Written by
Joe Kinsey is the Senior Director of Content of OutKick and the editor of the Morning Screencaps column that examines a variety of stories taking place in real America. Kinsey is also the founder of OutKick’s Thursday Night Mowing League, America’s largest virtual mowing league. Kinsey graduated from University of Toledo.