Important message from the Little Miami Board
Sept. 15, 2020
A message from the Little Miami Board of Education:
As you may be aware, at the beginning of last Friday’s football game, two Little Miami football players elected to run onto the field carrying a “Thin Blue Line” flag and a “Thin Red Line” flag.
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 Board’s support, the superintendent and high school administrators have completed the investigation. The results show that 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.
Bobbie Grice
President
Little Miami Local Schools Board of Education
