ATLANTA (CBS46) - A metro Atlanta student was told to change his shirt during a school field trip. The shirt had the words "Fake News Network" written on it, and the field trip was a tour of CNN.
The Peachtree Charter Middle School student is the son of DeKalb County Commissioner Nancy Jester and Stan Jester, a member of the DeKalb County Schools' Board of Education.
They want an apology from the school.
Jaxson was asked to change his shirt and the school later apologized. But on his blog, Stan Jester says the school needs to apologize to his son as well, and writes that DeKalb County Schools might have a consistency problem with the First Amendment.
Stan Jester points to the Cedar Grove High School softball players who took a knee during the national anthem back in October. He says DeKalb County Schools are being hypocritical by celebrating those students, but forcing his son to change his shirt.
CBS46 contacted the Jester family to ask them to talk about this with us. Nancy Jester said they would be willing to talk at another time.
CBS46 also spoke to several parents at the school and none of them wanted to speak to on camera. But there were some who told CBS46 the student should not have worn the shirt because it was in poor taste, and they hate to see middle school students politicized.
DeKalb County Schools sent CBS46 the statement below:
"An incident occurred at a DeKalb County school last week in which a teacher asked a student to change his shirt prior to leaving the school for a field trip. The request was out of concern for the student’s safety in accordance with the district’s Student Code of Conduct, which states . . . . “ the wearing of clothing, tattoos or other adornments which show offensive and/or vulgar words, pictures, diagrams, drawings or includes words or phrases of a violent nature, a disruptive nature, a sexual nature, politically/socially controversial words or graphics or words or phrases that are derogatory regarding a person’s ethnic background, color, race, national origin, religious belief, sexual orientation or disability is prohibited.”
The parent of the student was contacted by the principal and informed that the student was being asked to change his shirt. The student complied with the request made by the teacher.
The safety of all DCSD students and staff is paramount."
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