Students Suspended for Clothing Displaying Confederate Flag

About 20 students at a Virginia high school were suspended Thursday for wearing clothing displaying the Confederate flag that violated dress code, according to the district.

The students arrived at Christiansburg High School in the clothes and refused to comply with the dress code, so they were given one-day in-school suspensions, Montgomery County Public Schools spokeswoman Brenda Drake told WSLS-TV.

But, she said, a majority of the students didn't follow in-school suspension rules and were given out of-school suspensions.

Christiansburg High's dress code prohibits students from wearing articles that reflect adversely on people because of race, gender, or other factors. Students also cannot place such signs, decals or stickers on lockers.

Beginning this fall, the school also banned vehicles with Confederate symbols from its parking lot. Drake had said previously that the school added the parking lot rule to be uniform with its dress code and lockers policy.

Confederate symbols have come under increased public scrutiny since the June 17 massacre of nine black worshippers at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. The white man charged in the case, Dylann Roof, had been photographed holding the Confederate battle flag.

The school has about 1,100 students, with about 83 percent white and about 8 percent black, state data show.