Confederate Battle Flag at School Leads to Lockdown

A trio of students has been suspended from school after one of them brought a Confederate battle flag to campus.

Officials said the disruption occurred Wednesday morning at Rockmart High School in Polk County when a 10th grade boy arrived with a Confederate battle flag attached to his backpack.

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He said the sophomore, who is white, then walked through the cafeteria before school started onto the courtyard with the Confederate battle flag strapped to his backpack. That’s where he was confronted by two African-American students.

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Principal Cupp also said shoving and exchange of words among the students was minimal because staff broke it up within minutes. He said no weapons were found. But later in the morning, the school was put through a lockdown drill with students kept in class after rumors of other students bringing Confederate battle flags surfaced.

“We just did that as a precautionary situation to help maintain and control what could have been a bad situation,” said Cupp.

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