The Rockwood School District has removed the “Thin Blue Line” flag from the back of the hats the Eureka High School baseball team members wear.
Superintendent Mark Miles sent a letter Tuesday (March 16) to parents, which also was published on the district’s website (rsdmo.org), that said the district is “obligated as a public entity to refrain from advocating for any particular political group or cause and having any type of political symbol on our uniforms violates district, state and National Federation of State High School Associations policies.”
The "Thin Blue Line" flag is a black-and-white American flag with one blue stripe meant to stand for support and solidarity with law enforcement officers. Some believe the flag was a response to the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
“The Rockwood School District absolutely supports the men and women who are our partners in law enforcement,” Miles said in the letter. “They are our parents, staff, spouses and community members who put their lives on the line for us every day.
“We also recognize that the thin blue line represents different things to different people, based upon an individual’s perspective and their unique experiences with law enforcement. Any political or potentially divisive symbol has no place on our uniforms. I assure you that we are reviewing our processes related to the purchase of sports uniforms at all of our schools.”
Tyson Funk, the president of the Eureka High baseball team’s booster club, said the “Thin Blue Line” flag has been part of the team’s hats for at least the past three seasons. He also said families pay for the players’ uniforms.
The team did not play last year because of the spread of COVID-19.
Mary LaPak, Rockwood’s executive director of communications, said the flag was added to the hat before last season, which was not played, and the team never displayed the flag during competition.
Funk said the flag first became part of the team’s uniforms mainly to show support for Eureka Police Officer Brett Grittini, who had been the school resource officer at Eureka High since 2016. He left the job this school year after being promoted to corporal at the Eureka Police Department.
Grittini also is a volunteer baseball coach for Eureka High.
Funk said he was told by school officials that the flag was removed after at least one Eureka High student was alarmed when seeing the symbol on some of the players’ hats in school.
LaPak would not say who raised the issue with the flag symbol but said the issue was brought to the attention of Eureka High administrators last week.
Funk, whose son is a member of the team, said at least three school officials collected the hats from players on Monday (March 15), and the next day each of the players had to bring in one of their jerseys that has a flag with blue, green and red stripes, which symbolizes support for law enforcement, military and EMS personnel.
“They (school officials) said both were offensive, and they would be removed and replaced with the American flag,” said Funk, 47, of Wildwood.
Funk said he understands the district’s policy of not having symbols advocating a political stance on school uniforms, but he was troubled by how the situation was handled.
“I am very confident it came down to a racial perspective, which is why I and many people are offended by the way that it happened,” Funk said. “If the flag were the issue, I think it would only make sense to tell the coach we are going to have to replace this flag with American flags, and that it is against the rules. We should have caught it earlier, but we didn’t. But that is not how it happened.”
Funk said members of the baseball program were gathered in a room, and three school officials collected the hats. He also said at least one of the officials lectured the players about race and how it was “wrong” to display the flag.
“Three authoritarians came in and told them why it was wrong that they were wearing those hats,” Funk said. “(One official) told them years ago there was a blackface incident at Eureka, and he compared this flag on a hat to the blackface incident. To me, he made it a racial issue intentionally, and kids who disagreed with it were pulled to the side and told why they were wrong.
“It was certainly a missed opportunity. Instead of it being an educational opportunity to build kids up and help them learn, they were demeaned, which should never happen. If a child did this to another child in school, there would have been a teacher involved telling them they shouldn’t do that. If an adult did it, it is even worse. This was a (school official) who demonstrated this type of judgement to a child. I greatly question that judgement.”
LaPak said the district has not been made aware of anything inappropriate shared at that meeting.
“The intent of the meeting with the players was to share with the team that having that symbol on their uniforms was not only a violation of district and state policy, but also to provide context around what that symbol may or may not mean to some students,” LaPak said.
The baseball team is not the school’s only athletic team that has displayed the “Thin Blue Line” flag.
Eureka High’s football team has taken the field with a member of the squad carrying the flag onto the field on occasion. Miles posted a photo of a player carrying the flag onto the field on Sept. 13, 2019. The Leader captured a photo of the flag being carried by a football player before a game on Aug. 24, 2018.
LaPak said the practice of carrying the “Thin Blue Line” flag by the football team onto the field ended in November 2019.