Student says school won’t let him run for class president after he organized Don’t Say Gay protests

Photo: Twitter, @Jack_Petocz

Jack Petocz — a 17-year-old senior at Flagler Palm Coast High School in Palm Coast, Florida — has accused his school’s administrators of forbidding him from running for class president because he organized a massive student walkout in protest of the state’s recently passed “Don’t Say Gay” law.

In March, Petocz organized statewide protests against the then-proposed law. He handed out over 200 flags to students who attended a walkout at his school. Over 500 people participated in the walkout, Petocz said in a letter he posted on Twitter.

Related: Students across Florida walkout of classes in protest of “Don’t say gay” bill

Petocz said that as students entered the protest, “the district had staff on-site to confiscate pride flags and other symbols of students’ identities… [telling students] they weren’t allowed and were merely a ‘political statement.’… I stood up to this behavior, telling students to keep their flags and continue marching on bravely.”

He then said that as soon as the walkout concluded, he was called into his principal’s office and then placed on a four-day suspension from classes. Upon returning to school, he said that school administrators assured him that he wouldn’t face any disciplinary action. However, he later discovered that the school had placed a level 3 referral on his record, a disciplinary measure that…

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/05/student-says-school-wont-let-run-class-president-organized-dont-say-gay-protests/