LA PLATA, Md. — Students are upset and both school administrators and a sheriff’s department are investigating after a Confederate flag was found hanging on the flag pole outside a Charles County high school.
La Plata High School says Thursday morning JROTC cadets found the flag when they went to raise the American flag.
“It's exhausting for me, but it's also exhausting for the generations before me,” said Dezmond Rosier a 2021 graduate of La Plata High School who previously served as the president of the Charles County NAACP Youth Council. “I was disappointed but not surprised."
Students reported it, and administrators had it taken down. The superintendent calls it a “cowardly act” and says the district is working with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office to investigate.
“I worry about the kids who support the flag and the children who don't support the flag because it's a difference of opinion that's going to lead to conflict,” said Rosier. “That's the last thing we want at La Plata High School.”
But, it’s the work students had already done that some say makes this display even more disappointing.
This time last year, the Class of 2021 petitioned to have members of the Class of 1969 walk with them at graduation. Just over 50 years ago some Black La Plata students were denied their diplomas for protesting racism in the school then.
“That was a major victory for the player high class of 2021,” recalled Rosier. “To see that almost a year later that there is a Confederate flag being hung up really is setting us behind.”
With just a day left in the school year for seniors, some think someone thought this was a prank.
“It's anything but a prank to the students who live their lives in this building. It's just hateful,” said Ian Herd a current La Plata senior who has spent the last two years as the Charles school board student member, and is now running for county commissioner. “It's clear we need to deal with the school culture. The student body needs to know that this is unacceptable."
