Parent Pushes for U.S. Flags in Berkeley Classrooms

After strong complaints from a concerned parent, Berkeley High School has finally distributed U.S. flags throughout its classrooms, stepping up the previously lax enforcement of a state code requiring them.

But Berkeley High parents Michael and Vicki Larrick, who first brought the missing flags to the school's attention, say the code is still not being enforced strictly enough, and will even go so far as to sue the district to make sure their goal is met.

Last year, Michael Larrick discovered California Education Code 38117, which reads, "The governing board of each school district throughout the state shall provide for each schoolhouse under its control, a suitable Flag of the United States, which shall be hoisted above each schoolhouse ... The governing board of each school district shall provide smaller and suitable United States Flags to be displayed in each schoolroom at all times during the school sessions ... "

When Larrick went to Berkeley High to see whether the code was being enforced, he found that the flags were distributed infrequently across the classrooms.

"I took a look and they didn't even have a flagpole at the school," he said. He immediately notified Berkeley Unified School District administrators, including Superintendent Michele Lawrence. As a result, flags have begun reappearing in classrooms.

"I don't know how long some classrooms have gone without flags," said Lawrence. "Some of it has to do with the construction changes in the period of time; some of it has to do with people moving from room to room."

Lawrence also said that Berkeley High did not have a flagpole for a while because of construction. However, district spokesperson Mark Coplan said that there has always been a flag on the football field and also in the middle of the construction site.

After Larrick's complaint, the school ordered new flags for the classrooms that were missing them, Lawrence said.

"My obligation is when someone points out that we are in violation, my obligation is to remedy those situations, and that's what we did," she said.

But in the Oct. 3, 2003 issue of the Berkeley High Jacket, the student newspaper, history teacher Bill Pratt was reported as saying he would not put up the flag due to political reasons.

"I think there is a reason why there has been a sort of collective choice among a lot of teachers in Berkeley not to display the flag," Pratt told the Jacket. "It's not necessarily anti-American, rather a quiet dissent from a lot of the values that the flag traditionally represents."

Larrick immediately filed an official complaint with the school's administration and waited for the school to call him back.

"They thought they could just keep blowing me away," Larrick said. "I am not going to stop until there's a flag in each classroom, just like the code says."

Although Larrick is still exploring ways to get Berkeley High to enforce the flag code outside the courtroom, Larrick says he is considering suing if Pratt does not fly his flag.

"That's the way we're going, without a doubt," he said.

Larrick added that he is raising the issue because he wants his kids learning in a balanced environment.

"I want a nonbiased atmosphere," he said. "I'm not going to let them break the law. We live in a country of laws, and that's what makes America so great."

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