Go Ruben!!!
School Refuses To Let Students Wear 205 Shirts
Officials Say Earlier Gang-Related Incident Involved 205
POSTED: 5:43 p.m. CDT April 23, 2003
HOMEWOOD, Ala. -- "Go Ruben!" has become a statewide anthem and many residents in Birmingham show their support by wearing the 205 shirts the local singer has made popular.
But at a Homewood school, the shirt is causing problems.
Cameron McFarland, 6, is proud of his 205 T-shirt but he spent most of the school day Wednesday with the shirt in his book bag, not wearing it.
His mother, Kelli, was notified by an e-mail from her son's teacher that Cameron was asked to take off the shirt because, "students are not allowed to wear the 205 shirts because of the gang implications behind the shirt."
Kelli McFarland said that was the first she'd heard of this -- the school never sent a letter to parents warning of a problem.
"And they didn't feel the need to send anything home. They said, 'No, we didn't send anything home -- there was no reason to,'" McFarland said.
After meeting briefly with the Edgewood Elementary principal, McFarland and her attorney were told they'd have to talk with the superintendent. They did so, but McFarland said she was not satisfied with the explanation.
"They won't tell me how it's gang-related," she said. "It's not because of the color of the shirt or anything, but it has been a past incident."
NBC13 wanted to be clear on the problem, so reporter Malena Wells went inside the Homewood Board of Education Office and spoke with Mike Hathorne, director of support services.
"We certainly are not having any problem with gangs or with the 205 shirts," Hathorne said.
Hathorne said the problem involving 205 appearing on shirts happened six months ago between two groups of students at Homewood High School long before Ruben made the 205 Flava shirts popular.
"We had a discipline issue first semester that involved this 205 and we tried to be proactive in that. Then, the Ruben came about and it's unfortunate that it's affiliated with a group of students that's caused a problem in our schools, but we wouldn't think a first-grader would be a gang-related student," Hathorne said.
Hathorne said the school system's student code of conduct book does not specifically mention 205 clothing in the section that bans clothing related to gangs.
"As a matter of fact, I would think students would want to wear 205 on their own time to support Ruben," Hathorne said. "We would all like to support Ruben."
But Hathorne said students should not wear the 205 shirts to school.
NBC13 tried to contact a representative at 205 Flava Inc., but could not reach anyone for comment.
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Personally, I think that this is just a hot mess. All the little boy wanted to do was to show some support for Ruben. I just don't understand this Alabama school system sometimes...
I missed it!!
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