An Oklahoma community expressed outrage after a high school student was banned from flying the American flag on his truck. 

The decision sparked a patriotic protest from students and parents outside Edmond North High School who responded by flying a number of American flags on campus in support of the student. 

Caleb Horst, a senior at the school, said he was left confused by the school telling him to stop flying the stars and stripes on his pickup, particularly as he had already been ‘flying it for quite a while.’ 

‘I’ve never really had problems with it before, and it’s our First Amendment, so it’s kind of hard for them to infringe upon our rights,’ Horst told KOCO last week. 

Since Horst spoke out about the order from his school, he has received an outpouring of support from other students, parents, and local lawmakers demanding it is reversed. 

 Edmond Public Schools said that the district prohibits the flying of any flags on vehicles.

‘This is designed to prevent disruptions and distractions during the school day,’ the school district told KOCO.

‘It is also done in an effort to provide a safe school environment as flying flags on vehicles creates safety issues in the parking lot as well as can cause damage to other vehicles.’ 

The explanation appeared to do little to calm backlash from the community, with Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters saying he plans to launch an investigation into the school district.

‘It sounds like they’re making a bunch of excuses to me,’ he said. 

‘Here’s the reality: you told the kid he couldn’t bring a flag on to campus, that is a ridiculous position, and it needs to be fixed.’ 

Walters vowed to protect students’ rights to fly the flag until the rules are changed. 

A group of local lawmakers announced they are requesting that the district superintendent updates its policies. 

The protests in Edmond even drew support from Dukes of Hazzard star John Schneider, who released a video to Facebook saying he was ‘applauding’ the student’s efforts. 

‘These are the kinds of people that we need to continue not only support, but to shout their names and their patriotism from our rooftops,’ Schneider said. 

‘Caleb, you’re doing a great job… keep doing it, and I want you all to continue to back this wonderful young man.’ 

The school district has held firm, threatening disciplinary action if Horst refuses to stop flying the flag on his truck. 

The situation spark a small protest in the school parking lot as a number of parents and students convened to wave the flag in protest. 

Vance Miller, a friend of Horst’s, said outside the school that the ban ‘hit home’ for him due to his family’s military background. 

‘I’ve got a brother in the military so it kind of hit home to me ’cause I was like he’s fighting for that flag, we should be allow to fly it,’ Miller said. 

‘It’d be different if we were trying to make a political statement, but there’s nothing political about it. 

‘It represents us, it’s unity, it represents us as one and it’s our freedom, we have people that fight and die for that flag every day so I think we should be allowed to fly it.’ 

In the face of potential disciplinary action, Horst said Monday that he plans to continue fighting the flag ban and was touched by the outpouring of support from the community. 

‘It felt pretty good to just see how many people were behind us,’ he said. 

‘I know there’s a lot of people that aren’t behind us, but there’s probably even more that are, and it kind of was encouraging.’ 

The school district said it will handle any discipline on a case-by-case basis, with students so far saying their protests have not resulted in any action. 

‘Last week, they talked about disciplinary action,’ Sutton Cargill, a junior at the school, to KOCO. ‘There’s really nothing new coming out.’ 

‘Unless they want to put half of their school in AISP (Alternative In-School Placement), they really couldn’t punish everybody for having the American flag out.’