School Punishes 12-Year-Old Colorado Boy For ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ Patch
CV NEWS FEED // A Colorado charter school kicked a seventh-grader out of class because he had a patch of the Gadsden flag on his backpack.
The incident took place Monday at the Vanguard School, which describes itself on its website as the “top charter school in Colorado Springs, CO.”
Twelve-year-old Jaiden Rodriguez was prevented from going to class solely due to the patch, which he refused to remove.
The bright yellow flag features an image of a coiled rattlesnake accompanied by the phrase “Don’t tread on me.” It has been a popular symbol of freedom from excessive government authority since the nation’s founding.
“The reason we do not want the flag displayed is due to its origins with slavery and slave trade,” explained a school official in a video shared widely on social media.
“What’s going to happen if he doesn’t take it off?” Jaiden’s mother asked.
The official responded that Jaiden could only go back to class without his bag, as she did not want the patch to be “around other kids.”
When Jaiden’s mother pressed the teacher by outlining the fact that the origin of the symbol has nothing to do with slavery, the school official pivoted, expressing that she “is here to enforce the policy that is provided by the district.”
Writer Connor Boyack took to X (formerly known as Twitter), sharing a portion of an email that Vanguard School Director Jeff Yocum sent to Jaiden’s mother.
The subject line of the email was “Dress Code.” Yocum wrote in the email that his “rationale for determining the Gadsden Flag is considered an unacceptable symbol” is that is purportedly “tied to the Confederate flag and other white-supremacy groups, including ‘Patriot’ groups.”
However, as Boyack uncovered, the “unacceptable items” school rule Yocum charged Jaiden with breaking was one referring “to drugs, tobacco, alcohol or weapons.”
Boyack is the president of the Libertas Institute, a Utah-based libertarian think tank. He is also the author of The Tuttle Twins book series, of which Jaiden is a fan. The series has been adapted into a TV show by Angel Studios and aims to teach children about government, economics, and civic engagement from a perspective that promotes limited government and the free market.
Although the school only seemed to take particular issue with the Gadsden flag badge, Jaiden’s backpack featured several other patches. One in displayed an image of St. Michael the Archangel armed with a sword and shield and bearing the words, “St. Michael, Protect Us.”
Jaiden has received an outpouring of bipartisan support. Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis set the record straight on the true history and meaning of the Gadsden flag.
“Obviously the Gadsden flag is a proud symbol of the American revolution and a [sic] iconic warning to Britain or any government not to violate the liberties of Americans,” Polis wrote on X:
It appears on popular American medallions and challenge coins through today and Ben Franklin also adopted it to symbolize the union of the 13 colonies. It’s a great teaching moment for a history lesson!
The governor was responding to Boyack, who had tagged him, saying he would “love to see” him respond.
As The Daily Caller reported, the Gadsden flag
depicts a coiled rattlesnake rampant on an azure field above the words “DON’T TREAD ON ME” and was designed by Christopher Gadsden in 1775. The snake was adopted from cartoon, “Join, Or Die,” by Benjamin Franklin, which depicted eight of the 13 American colonies at the time as components of a woodcut rattlesnake.
The states of Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia permit drivers to obtain Gadsden flag-themed license plates when registering their vehicles.
Boyack on Tuesday posted an update about the situation. He said that Jaiden went back to school the day after the incident while still refusing to remove the patch. The student “said he’d do a sit-in if necessary to protest,” Boyack noted.
“Two law firms have stepped forward to assist as necessary to fight the viewpoint discrimination,” Boyack added He also noted that as of mid-Tuesday, there was “No known response yet from the school or district offices,” and it was unknown whether Polis would call the school “and tell them to knock it off.”
Finally, Boyack revealed that the ordeal inspired Jaiden to run for school president. “The tri-corner hat is part of his shtick. Super patriotic kid!”
The Vanguard School, which has been in operation for 27 years, says that it is a “tuition-free, K-12 Colorado Springs charter school that serves students from across the Pikes Peak Region.”
The school has claimed to use “a classical liberal arts curriculum based on the Hillsdale Academy Model and designed to give all students a solid academic grounding required for success as an adult.” However, the Colorado school is not a Hillsdale-affiliated school.
Since Vanguard is a charter school, it is publicly funded with taxpayer dollars, yet it is privately run, separate from the Colorado public school system.
