Lakeville school board declines to ban Confederate flag decal

[link in title]
The school board was concerned that banning the rebel flag on campus would violate the Constitution. By SARAH LEMAGIE, Star Tribune

Bravo to the Lakeville school board! Here is a school board that understands the right to free speech.

However, in reading the story I found some troubling statements and quotes: " Amundson's decal led to several complaints and a petition - signed by roughly 50 Lakeville school employees -- calling for the school board to ban the Confederate flag from school grounds." The board's stance disappointed some at Lakeville South, including teacher Peter Woollen, who worried the district could be heading down a slippery slope and said several students have told him the symbol offends them. [Teacher, Peter] Woollen said he's not accusing the student of being racist, but perhaps "naive." At least two parents complained to school officials, and [teacher, Peter] Woollen filed a formal objection with the district last month.

WTF? First off, Peter Woollen sounds like a complete asshole! Peter, you have proven yourself to be the "naive" one. These kids are in highschool and they have a life time of being offended ahead of them. You know what offends me? That stuipid "coexist" bumpersticker or a Che Guevera tee-shirt.

Several students and two parents complained? While I couldn't find total student enrollment numbers for Lakeville South H.S., there are 11500 students in the Lakeville district. Assuming there are 1000 students and each student lives with one and a half parent, thats 1500 parents. Two complaints equals just 0.001333% of the parent population. If less then 1% of the parents are concerned and "several" (ambiguous to say the least) students complained I would say this is a non-factor.

Peter, you can't protect these kids from stuff that offend's them. I would guess that more students are offended by the fact that you Peter, are trying to remove the right of free speech from the high school campus. As for the other 49 Lakeville school employees who signed the petition - how does it feel to be on the wrong side of the U.S. Constitution?

UPDATE: I just found a letter that Peter Woollen wrote to the StarTribune in regards to some sort of advertising done by the American Voter Fund. He's complaining to the Strib about "red shirts" the GOP used after the Civil War to gain votes. Sounds to me like Peter Woollen would rather everone wore brown shirts. I don't know the specifics of the ad mentioned, but the link can be found here: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2006/02/012953.php?format=print