UPDATE FROM CCSO -6/2/22 – Charles County Sheriff’s detectives have identified two La Plata High School students as the people responsible for raising a Confederate flag in the school’s parking lot during the overnight hours of May 18.
Investigators worked closely with the Charles County Public Schools and have also consulted with the Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office.
In addition to administrative sanctions through the school system, the Sheriff’s Office is exploring violations of Maryland Law.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 301-932-2222. Tipsters who want to remain anonymous, but provide information about criminal activity at schools, may contact the confidential tip line at CCPS at 301-302-8305 or Charles County Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS.
The investigation is continuing.
UPDATE FROM CCSO -5/20/22 – Charles County Sheriff’s detectives assigned to the Homeland Security Section are releasing photos taken from a surveillance camera at La Plata High School showing at least two people who may have been involved in the raising of a confederate flag at the school’s entrance.
A preliminary investigation shows the suspects arrived at the school at approximately 11:50 p.m. on May 18 at which time it is believed they placed the flag on the flagpole and raised it. Members of the school’s JROTC discovered the flag the following morning.
The Sheriff’s Office is pursuing leads and seeking the public’s help in identifying the people responsible in an effort to better assess the motive and determine whether there are any underlying threats associated with the case. The photos, which are grainy, may help lead to the identities of the suspects.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Sheriff’s Office at 301-932-2222. Tipsters who want to remain anonymous, but provide information about criminal activity at schools, may contact the confidential tip line at CCPS at 301-302-8305 or Charles County Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS.
LA PLATA, Md. – After pictures surfaced on social media, Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) is investigating an incident on May 19 where La Plata High School JROTC cadets found a confederate flag hanging from the school’s main flag pole.
“CCPS students and staff should feel safe and welcomed in schools, not fearful, angry or sad,” the school system said in a statement. “CCPS is providing additional support for La Plata students and staff, and La Plata administrators will continue to discuss the incident with students.”
School administrators were notified, and the flag was promptly removed. However, they are still investigating the cause, according to a news release.
Currently, this is seen as an isolated incident at La Plata and does not reflect the values and beliefs of the school system.
CCPS is working with the Charles County Sheriff’s office to investigate, and investigators believe the flag was hung the night before.
“This cowardly act will not deter us from providing a safe and welcoming environment for the children, teens, and adults who come to our schools every day to teach and to learn,” Superintendent of Schools Maria Navarro said. “This incident will serve as a teachable moment. It must teach our children and ourselves that we as a school system and as a community will not tolerate symbols of hate, and we won’t allow hate to gain a foothold in our school system.”
Superintendent Navarro is encouraging support from parents, students, staff, and community members to ensure incidents such as this do not happen, according to a news release.
CCPS asks anyone with information to report to Jason Stoddard, CCPS director of school safety and security, at jstoddard@ccboe.com, or call Charles County’s Sheriff’s Office at 301-932-2222.
CCPS also has an anonymous online reporting tool on its website at https://www.ccboe.com/community/see-something-say-something.
I’m so glad to see how Charles County county has been changing.
Yes this is bad– but look at the response– good to see it is no longer being tolerated.
When I was growing up, a drive to Charles County would often involve seeing pickup trucks with the Confederate flag fully displayed in the back window.
And a shotgun would be hanging there too.
I’m glad those days are gone.
They’re not at my house
Wow. What difference does that make how fast the crime way solved. It’s still hate anyway you put it. If they had been Afro American, they’d be pasted on the front page of every newspaper in the state. Give me a break!
That flag does not represent hate.
For you it does not, but for some it definitely does.
I knew people who displayed it with hate. Sick and sad.
“For you it does not, but for some it definitely does. ”
For the ones that do think it resembles hate, they only think that way because that’s what CNNLOL and MSLSD has told them to think over the years.
That flag, like the statues, Red States, GOP’ers and white people have now been folded into their ridiculous MSM symbols of hate.
Sooner or later, the left will run out of things to hate and start eating themselves.
How paranoid of you to think that talking about the Confederate Flag and Haters is a “Left thing”.
I’m an Independent, conservative in some ways and (moderate) liberal in other ways.
No, talking about the rebel flag and it’s relationship to hate is not a “Left conspiracy”. I’ve seen people on Fox News describe the rebel flag as being a frequent hate symbol too.
“This incident will serve as a teachable moment. It must teach our children and ourselves that we as a school system and as a community will not tolerate symbols of hate, and we won’t allow hate to gain a foothold in our school system.”
Perhaps someone should teach Maria Navarro, that a large portion of Americans’ ancestry, fought under that flag and it is not a symbol of hate, like all good liberal race card players would have you believe. It is a part of American history, and should taught as such, not as a hate symbol unless you are a racist and want to see it as something it is not.
First, those that fought under that flag lost. Generally, society does not continually fly the flag of the losers. It is fine to be proud of ancestors who fought for what they at that time believed in. Unfortunately, for the families of former slaves, the flag means something else. That isn’t the so called liberal race card. It is reality. Second, it wasn’t put up as pride in one’s ancestral heritage. To try and make the case otherwise, is a bit silly.
Too many racists have used the CF that way.
Retire it.
The portion that wanted to keep slavery alive. The sad part of it all there are those who still filled with the notion that that flag is a symbol of love. You got to be kidding me.
Bruh! Even the Republican kids are using “bruh.”
Concerned person right because everyone who has confederate flag in the back of their pickup and shotgun hanging is a racist would it be okay if I have the American flag hanging with a shotgun or is that still racist ?
Punctuation helps
if they were charged, what would they be charged with? Its not against the law, I hope, to raise a flag. Why isn’t the civil law flag flown in this area? Its supposed to be flown in times of undeclared war.
It’s defacing school property. Which is a crime. Don’t comment unless u know what ur talking about.
@csfgh –
It would be interesting to see if you’d be singing a different tune if the gay pride flag were hoisted instead of the CF.
It’s okay to fly the sodomite flag.
“When I was growing up, a drive to Charles County would often involve seeing pickup trucks with the Confederate flag fully displayed in the back window and a shotgun would be hanging there too.
I’m glad those days are gone.”
Earth to “Concerned Liberal Person”; I see that you’re not an American due to your communist leanings. Taking away our freedoms does NOT make America or her people better!
Did any of those Flags or shotguns kill anyone back when you were growing up? Did they come after you? NO! Because, back then, people were responsibly exercising their AMERICAN FREEDOMS! They were mostly responsible, freedom loving Americans. I’ll buy you a ticket back to your own country if you hate our freedoms that much…
Some people are so trapped in their “political mind-loops”.
No– I am an Independent and am conservative on quite a few issues.
I knew people that were very into Confederate flags in Charles and PG Counties– I knew them personally– and yes a lot of them were racists.
Hate is awful. A friend mine who was Black and who was / is a great guy had one of those old local PG County racists smash his jaw with a baseball bat.
(For doing nothing except walking down the street).
The “good old days” were not so good, now were they?
Wonderful people. Glad their numbers are getting lower and lower.
Sorry, Concerned Person, but you’re not Conservative; You’re ignorant!
People like you should not vote since you have tunnel vision. Right away you want laws made against anything that you don’t agree with regardless of the fact that it causes an infringement of our freedoms. Little by little drones like you are giving the left more fuel to totally take over our free society but you don’t even know that you’re doing it!
Yes, it’s wrong to put that flag on a county school’s property but it’s not a crime and it’s not newsworthy. Did you scream and protest when DC totally defaced a public road with their huge yellow painted artwork that said BLM? Of course you didn’t! You’re not even smart enough to know what a contradiction you are!
And stop with your childish examples of your friend who got beat up! For every one of them, there are 10 thousand who did not get beat up! Like it or not, people have the right to be racist if they want. The government can NOT legislate their morality. All people have God given rights and the government does NOT have the right to take them from us!
CCWAM,
Your opinion doesn’t rate with me at all. I have seen your racist comments on here numerous times.
You are part of the sick old racist Southern Maryland of the past.
It is mostly gone and the rest will slowly die out of old age, or move away. Good riddance.
You are just a dinosaur, Mr. Triceratops. The future does not belong to you.
A true Trumper. Blame everything on the left. You really sound ignorant.
More like your freedom to be intolerant… and replace your “freedom loving” with “racist” and it still makes perfect sense for this author. CCWAM is one of those that is afraid to see color, even when those of color do good…
I don’t think these kids should be criminally charged. But that flag is not accepted anymore and that’s a real good thing.
So funny watching all the Charles County conservatives whining about this here. Fact: Charles County is becoming more and more Democrat every day.
Fact: Good, honest, hardworking Black people now dominate Charles County politics and the conservatives in Charles County now have so little influence there that all they have left to do is come on here and post conspiracy theories about “leftists” taking over the world.
Fact: The Democratic Party in Charles County is MODERATE Left, not “far-left”.
Cry and whine, that’s all you have left to do in CC.
“…the suspects arrived at the school at approximately 11:50 p.m. on May 18.” Uh, it’s always dark at 11:50pm in La Plata. It sure looks like broad daylight there…
I still love those $5 surveillance cameras that our schools continue to use.
How about a BLM Flag, would that be bad to hang on a flagpole? BLM has burned down and destroyed more property in the last 2 years than any other hate group. Is it against the law to fly a Confederate Flag?
Yep, and your hate group shoots people at grocery stores
Yep and your hate group wants to make it legal to kill babies and even worse make it legal to birth a child and decide on day 28 you don’t want it that is murder
Rape and incest… you should know all about incest
Ha! Conspiracy theory much?? Kill a baby after birth?? Tucker told you that one
J,
A BLM flag would not be OK, unless authorized by the administrator responsible for that flagpole. Still, it’s not an accepted fact that BLM is a hate group or did any of the damage you allude to. Can you back up your claims, to include a comparison with ALL the contemporary activist groups in the US? School me, please.
BLM is a terrorist racist organization
They put what color matters in front of whose lives matter, BLM has burned down entire city blocks, performed millions of dollars in property damages, and you’re gonna sit here and say that it’s fine?
Unbelievable and you’re a racist for standing up to that pos organization
So is the kkk, oath boys, and many other hate groups. No mention of them in your post. Get a life!
Ahhh I see you have a problem with facts do you? Get a life and a education
And here’s your proof
https://thepostmillennial.com/blm-riot-damages-worst-in-history-totalling-over-2-billion
I’m glad you responded to this because “Paultimore” is clearly clueless. Not hard to believe when you sit around watching NBC all day.
Patrice Colors is a scam artist and a self avowed Marxist. Self AVOWED!
And yet, they are still clueless.
I cannot stand blm, what it represents, and the people that support it
it could be that you don’t listen to the press I listen to. There are such things as rent- a- mobs & the night before a riot, there are pallets of bricks and other things brought in.
it could be that, as long of a story as this is, it wasn’t a crime. It was a flag pole & the confederate flag ….. is still a flag. Sounds like the flag pole was used for its intended purpose. In some ways, the country operates worse than it did in the Confederacy, & in other ways, it operates better. During the Confederacy, I doubt it would have been tolerated for a trillion dollar debt. & I doubt only 535 members of congress would have been tolerated .
Well in being said “IF” it was a BLM flag. The fact remains the same it wasn’t a BLM because they knew better it was a “CONFEDERATE FLAG!!!” That’s being investigated by Homeland Security. Now let’s be grown and wait for the findings of the investigation. That’s all we can do. No need in fussing time will tell it all.
Who is really surprised that this happened at LaPlata? i don’t think anyone is.. u have the same group of people defending the racist things their kids do because that’s what they teach them at home!! we all know they wont get caught. we all know nothing will be done about it. we all know that how they feel. they will make excuse after excuse to justify something that is clearly wrong anyway you look at it..
You guys are making it bad for all you know they put it up in honor it’s history its part of a big motion that made America what it is today. These kids should be told they can not determine what flags are flown and that should be the end of it. Bet if it were a rain bow flag it would not be addressed.
Exactly!
I knew you’d agree with poor writing skills…
I knew you would agree with bigotry.
Takes one to know one
… wow what a comment thread this started. Lol. Its a dumb thing kids might do. Shouldnt be criminal. But shouldnt be rewarded either. Be kind. From all sides. Remember those who cry intolerance tend not to tolerate the intolerable
But ccwam, no couth, and baud are always right! ALWAYS RIGHT!! Doesn’t everyone know this?!?
You left out big dog
I’m glad everything is being investigated. I hope it was just a prank. Let’s all do our best to keep our children safe in school.
P.S. : It’s super annoying when someone is triggered when a group expresses disdain for the confederate flag and try to use BLM as a justification. Tit for tat. The confederate flag and BLM organization are both problematic… just 2 kids pointing fingers at the other.
it sounds like this is a big broo- – ha- ha- over nothing, it sounds like there aren’t any criminal charges