Student weighing Mexican flag lawsuit

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — A high school student says he may file a lawsuit against a physical-education teacher who took a Mexican flag he had brought for Cinco de Mayo and put it in the garbage.

Teacher Clint Straatman denies Froylan Camelo’s version of events, but said he took the flag Monday because “white kids” might have hurt the 16-year-old. He said he put it in a garbage can because he had no place else to keep it.

Froylan said he was changing into gym clothes at Minico High School in Rupert when Mr. Straatman told him, “Give me the flag.”

“I said, ’What’s the probl-em?’” Froylan, speaking in Spanish, told the Times-News of Twin Falls. “He said, ’The problem is that we are in the United States and not in Mexico.’ He grabbed it from me. He threw the flag in the garbage can.”

Froylan said that Mr. Straatman told him the flag would be returned at the end of the school day, but that Mr. Straatman taunted him instead.

“I asked, ’Where is my flag?’” Froylan said. “He said, ’What, the U.S. flag?’ I said, ’No, the one for Mexico.’ But he wouldn’t give it to me.”

Froylan said he then took the undamaged flag out of the garbage. He said he has been contacted by the American Civil Liberties Union and is considering a lawsuit against Mr. Straatman.

Mr. Straatman denied saying the words Froylan attributed to him, and said the student may have misunderstood him because of his poor English. He said he took the flag from Froylan after the student had been waving it in the school gym, and denied withholding it later.

“I had to confiscate it so it wouldn’t escalate any problems in class,” Mr. Straatman told the Times-News. “We’re worried about that stuff all the time. We always have kids saying stuff to each other, and we have a lot of fights between kids.”

Scott Rogers, superintendent of the Minidoka County Joint School District, said an investigation has been started but could not comment about personnel decisions.

“We believe in nondiscriminatory practices and cultural sensitivity,” he said. “If there is a teacher making derogatory comments, we don’t approve of that. We also don’t approve of a student disrupting the classroom.”