California high school board meeting attendees clash over ‘Thin Blue Line’ flag

Attendees at a California high school board meeting got heated Wednesday over the displaying of a “Thin Blue Line” flag during school football games. 

The William S. Hart Union High School District meeting was purportedly “packed” with individuals both for and against the use of the “Thin Blue Line” flag used by the Saugus High School football team. The team brought the flag out last Friday despite a coach’s prior decision to stop displaying it. 

“First and foremost, people have written to us and said that the Blue Line Flag does not belong on any football field, any sports field, on any field, which is not true, not right,” said Joe Messina, a member of the school board, during the meeting. “There is a constitutional right to be able to wear those things at those events.”

Messina condemned those who called students donning the “Thin Blue Line” flag White supremacists, saying, “I think it’s despicable that we keep calling them white supremacists and other things.” 

Messina said he viewed the present situation as a possible learning experience for those involved. 

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Other individuals in attendance spoke out against the use of the flag, with Valerie Bradford, president of the Santa Clarita Valley branch of the NAACP, being one of the many individuals present at the meeting in opposition to it. 

“We are here today to stand for the parents and the students that have spoken out against what’s happening at Saugus High School and that is the presentation of them bringing the ‘Thin Blue Line’ flag out on the field,” Bradford said, according to Fox 11. “It makes students feel uncomfortable, and they reached out, so we’re here in support of that.”

Bradford continued on to state that those against the flag are not anti-law enforcement but rather for inclusion. 

“We feel that every student should be allowed to attend school, feel safe, feel comfortable in a peaceful environment, and this flag does not do that,” said Bradford, according to the station. 

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Mike Kuhlman, superintendent of the district, released a statement as to why the flag was not specifically addressed during the meeting.

“In order for the Governing Board to discuss this issue, it would need to be agendized properly prior to the board meeting. The agenda was posted on Friday afternoon and therefore this issue is not included for discussion or action on Wednesday, November 2,” Kuhlman wrote. 

The Hart Union High School District declined to comment on the meeting. 

The school district did note the subject would be on the agenda for discussion at an upcoming board meeting on Nov. 16. 

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“It was never an issue on the football team before somebody made it an issue on social media, so for [my son], he thought he was doing the right thing and being respectful and appreciating the law enforcement community as a whole,” Saugus High School mother Lexi Hawk said during an October appearance on “Fox and Friends.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to Saugus High School for comment but did not immediately hear back.

Fox News’ Joe Morgan and Bailee Hill contributed to this report.