FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – A high school senior in Massachusetts is frustrated that a photo of her featuring an American flag was rejected from her school’s yearbook.
Morgan Truax’s boss at the Red Wing Diner, Liam Murphy, took the photo and purchased a full page ad in Foxborough High School’s yearbook to honor all her hard work.
The school won’t publish it, however, saying it’s disrespectful. Principal Diana M. Myers-Pachla issued a statement to WFXT saying “The photo showed the United States flag hanging on a wall with the lower portion lying on the floor and the student standing on the flag. We do not view standing on the US Flag as respectful or appropriate.”
Murphy says the school is missing the “big picture” because what is in the photo is not even a flag, but a back drop.
“This was simply just one of thousands of photography backdrops to depict the American flag,” said Murphy. “It is not a real flag, it’s not something you would hang on a flag pole, it is literally something that is red, white, and blue, that we found patriotic.”
Morgan’s mother, Lisa Truax, posted the photo on Facebook, giving an explanation and asking her friends to share. People have been showing support, saying how the situation is “absolutely insane” and how “we are American and we deserve to be proud of our country.”
Morgan and Lisa offered to crop the photo so no one would be offended.
WTAE reports that the school considered publishing the cropped version of the photograph but after speaking with a representative of the local veteran’s agency they decided against it: “In my professional opinion, this photograph, as it is, or even cropped, would be an inappropriate display of the United States flag.”
You can see the cropped version of the photograph in the Facebook post below — it’s gone viral with over 11,000 shares and counting:
