Fresno, Calif. A Fresno Unified student’s Donald Trump hat is surrounded in controversy.
“It’s my favorite hat,” said third grader Logan Autry. “The First Amendment says I can wear my hat.”
But his red hat, reading “Make America Great Again”, has caused problems for Logan.
“They told me to take my hat off because it brings negative emotions to the other children who don’t like him,” said Logan.
Logan said Thursday school officials at Powers-Ginsburg Elementary School told him to take his Donald Trump hat off due to safety concerns after other students confronted him.
“They were saying they didn’t like Trump, they were saying he was stupid,” said Logan. “I had to explain to them what Donald Trump was actually doing.”
Logan may be Trump’s biggest “little” fan. He said he wants to be a politician when he grows up and even pretends to be one now.
He attended the Trump rally in downtown Fresno with his uncle on May 27.
“He supports Trump even at his age,” said Logan’s uncle Zacc Autry. “He knows a lot about politics.”
Logan’s uncle said they took him out of school because of the controversy Thursday. He didn’t think that was fair.
“They should be able to let kids freely express themselves without the fear of being beat up or harassed or bullied,” said his uncle.
According to district code, hats are permitted outside of the classroom but if they become a distraction, they can ask students to not wear them.
“I still said no I am not taking it off and I said no,” said Logan. “Then the principal told me to take it off but I still said no.”
Logan thought the hat wasn’t distracting enough to the point that he needed to take it off.
The district released a statement which said “our job as educators is to facilitate a safe learning environment where we encourage robust conversations of diverse and thoughts. We are proud that in this case, our school achieved that goal by allowing the student to wear his hat for several days. However, it is also our responsibility to take precautions when the discourse begins to impact our school climate and interrupt school operations.”
The last day for the school is June 9 and Logan said he plans to keep wearing his hat.
