Girls Cited For Wearing Air Force Logo Sweatshirts At School, Dad Won’t Have Them ‘Tip-Toe Around Patriotism’
Two girls were cited by school officials for wearing Air Force logo sweatshirts. Kaidence and Abigail Rolen, both 11, were told that their clothing violated the school’s dress code at Aubrey Middle School. Both girls were born on an Air Force base and come from a strong military family.
According to CBS 11 News in Dallas, the Rolens are a proud military family. They display a military flag at their Providence Village home and have numerous items inside that honor the nation’s service.
When the Rolen girls chose to wear the sweatshirts to school that had an Air Force logo on them, the controversy emerged. The twins’ father, Phil Rolen, says this “is political correctness run amok.” The disabled Iraq War veteran immediately called the principal and was told that it wasn’t the Air Force logo that was the issue, but the size of it on the clothing. It was apparently too large by the district’s dress code standards.
Rolen says that the school district has a “blanket policy doesn’t allow administrators to make commonsense exceptions to rules that I think most Texans would agree are absolutely superfluous.”
I’m SOO totally on board w this dad, U.S. Air Force veteran, Phillip Rolen. #AmendTheRuleAubrey https://t.co/zJQMrqsqid
— Tara Di Leva (@TaraItalian) October 11, 2015
The school district told CBS 11 News in a statement that “Aubrey ISD has a student dress code to follow, just as our military personnel are expected to wear uniforms.” According to the Rolens, the school district’s dress code needs a change following the debacle over the Air Force logo sweatshirts that their daughters wore to school. Rolen says that they’ve “certainly fought bigger fights in life.”
In an NBC 5 News report, the school’s dress code was revealed in relation to the Air Force logo sweatshirts that the girls wore to school. Aubrey ISD Superintendent Debby Sanders sent in a statement to the news station.
“Students are allowed to wear solid color ‘hoodies’ that have logos (including military logos) that are smaller than 1 1/2-inch by 1 1/2-inch. Students are welcome to wear outerwear that may have larger logos to and from school, on the bus, to games and after-school activities, but they must be left in lockers during the school day.”
Why this hoodie is banned from a North Texas school district on CBS 11 10p pic.twitter.com/CBw1bcXkfA
— J.D. Miles (@jdmiles11) October 10, 2015
Rolen adds that he and his wife met in the Air Force and that his daughters were born on a military base. So, this especially hits hard for him. He’s not “backing down” in his fight to correct what he views as a trivial issue in the school’s dress code. He says that he has a bit of a rebellious streak in him. He told the principal that his daughters will continue to wear the sweatshirts bearing the Air Force logo and he hopes that there will be some “common sense” exercised in this whole thing.
Regardless of what the school decides to do in terms of disciplinary measures, the girls’ father refuses to keep his daughters from wearing the sweatshirts.
“I’m just not going to raise my kids where they’re going to tip-toe around their patriotism and their civics. We don’t disagree with dress codes. It’s a matter of civics and it’s a matter of patriotism.”
Another Inquisitr article touched on a similar story when a boy in Oregon was suspended for wearing a military t-shirt. The boy’s older brother was a Marine who fought in Iraq and he wanted to honor his brother and other military service members by wearing the shirt. He was suspended from school because it the rifle seen on the attire was against the school district’s dress code.
What do you think of the school’s policy over the girls who were cited for wearing a large Air Force logo on their sweatshirts?
[Photo Credit: J.D. Miles / Twitter]
