High school senior India Landry, 17, claims she was suspended from Windfern High School in the Houston area as Landry was told not to return unless she stands for the Pledge of Allegiance, KHOU-TV reported.
Although the student reportedly returned to school on Friday, Landry's attorney later filed a suit against the school.
Landry said she has not stood during the Pledge of Allegiance for several years, and has not had any issues from teachers. But last Monday, Landry was in the principal's office at the time of the Pledge of Allegiance.
“And then the pledge came on, and they both stood, and then I didn’t,” Landry told KHOU. “[The principal] asked me to, and I said I wouldn’t. And then she said 'Well, you’re kicked out of here.'”
The Associated Press reported on Saturday that Landry's attorney has filed a suit against the district for allegedly violating Landry's free speech rights. The AP added that Landry returned to school on Friday.
“A student will not be removed from campus for refusing to stand for the pledge," the Cy-Fair Independent School District said in a statement to KHOU-TV.
Landry says as a black student, the flag does not have the same meaning for her as it does for others.
“I don’t think that the flag is what it says it’s for, for liberty and justice and all that,” Landry told KHOU. “It's not obviously what’s going on in America today.”
