A patriotic secondary school student has been kicked out of school after being “humiliated” by his principal who banned him from speaking at a school election, his mother claims.
Hattie Ruggles announced Tuesday that her son, Jimmy Hayward, and two of his sisters will not be allowed to return to St. Bonaventure Catholic School in Huntington Beach, California, after they violated the school’s code of conduct.
“We finally heard from St. Bonaventure. We received an email this morning saying they have expelled Jimmy, Alice and Livia and will not be allowing them to return next year,” Ruggles said. Share on Facebook There was also a photo of the termination letter, which mentioned her three children.
In a letter signed by the parish’s pastor, the Rev. Vincent Pham, the school said it expelled the three students for “serious violations of our Christian Code of Conduct and Parent Electronic Communications Policy.”
The alleged violations occurred after May 16, when Jimmy was due to run for “school spirit and patriotism committee” as part of a school election and give a speech to his classmates.
As part of his preparation for the role, Hayward wrote a speech that contained some patriotic elements that the school deemed a violation of its Christian code of conduct.
“My love for America is what motivates me to run for Commissioner of Patriotism and School Spirit. It is an honor to live in this country. Sadly, there are people who take their citizenship rights for granted, from disrespecting the people who protect us to eating nachos during the national anthem at a sporting event,” Hayward said in his speech.
“Many people recite the Pledge of Allegiance without understanding what it means. It’s like reciting the lyrics to Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake it Off’ without really understanding what you’re pledging to the United States of America.”
Mr Hayward said if elected he would take on the “important task” of making SBS a more patriotic programme, echoing former President Donald Trump’s promise to make things great again in his closing words.
“I will make school spirit great again! I will make patriotism within SBS great again! And most importantly, I will make SBS great again! Thank you and God bless St. Bonaventure Catholic School!”
An election poster made for Jimmy read, “Hayward – Commissioner for Patriotism and School Spirit – Make SBS Great Again.”
All speeches must be pre-approved by school officials, and Jimmy’s speech was not approved, but his mother acknowledged that parts of the speech were “a little offensive for a school speech.”
The family worked the night before the speech to amend and rewrite parts of it, and “by the time we were done editing it, it was a really great speech and one that we could all be really proud of,” Ruggles said.
However, the school’s principal, Mary Flock, banned Jimmy from speaking unless he removed all references to patriotism.
Ruggles argued that Principal Flock’s ruling was the result of a disagreement between her and her son, and that the principal was stifling the 13-year-old’s free speech.
In Tuesday’s letter, the school allegedly accused the family of speaking to school officials in a manner “inconsistent with our expectations of respectful and civil communication,” sparking a “smear campaign” by “posting derogatory comments about school officials” and inviting outside groups to unauthorized events on parish grounds.
The family also organized a petition calling for Floch’s removal from office, which garnered more than 6,700 signatures and is said to have made threats against the administration.
“These actions have a negative impact on our school community and are contrary to the principles we strive to uphold,” the letter read. “Please understand that this decision has been made in the best interest of upholding the standards and values that are central to our school’s mission.”
Ruggles’ petition appears to have been effective, as parents were notified last month that Flock had left the school, according to a flood of emails sent by the school and information Ruggles shared in a May 23 petition on Change.org.
“We regret to inform you that Principal Mary Flock will not be returning to St. Bonaventure School next school year,” the email sent to school officials said.
