High School coach’s decision to end use of ‘thin blue line’ flags by football team causes uproar

Controversy has erupted at a Southern California school district over the use of pro-police “thin blue line” flags by a high school football team, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.

The flap involves Saugus High School in the William S. Hart Union High School District in Santa Clarita, where three students were killed in a shooting in 2019. Since then, Sagus’s football team has run onto the field before games carrying the blue version of the American flag as a tribute to police who responded to the shooting.

But Saugus head coach Jason Bornn recently ended the practice because he believes it does not fit with the inclusive culture he is trying to create, the Daily News reported.

“In deference to (Bornn’s) commitment to inclusivity, kindness and respect (just loving people), and because the team never voted as a unit to carry this banner, (Bornn) decided to discontinue this practice,” district Superintendent Mike Kuhlman said in a statement.

Friday night many parents and students wore shirts to a football game with “thin blue line”  flags io the back and the words “THE BLUE HAD OUR BACKS NOW WE BACK YOURS!!” on the front.

A retired police officer whose son plays on the Saugus team told the Daily News that “there are several kids on the team whose parents work in law enforcement and are first responders and want to show their support for them.”

But others are opposed. The newspaper reported that in a recent Facebook post, a Santa Clarita resident insisted the school district do something about Saugus players running onto the field with the flag.

“There is absolutely no reason for this image to be carried out onto the field by players” the post read. “What message are we sending to our kids if we sit back and allow this divisiveness to continue.”