The parents of a middle school student at St. Bonaventure Catholic School in Huntington Beach, California, allege that school principal Mary Flock would not let their student read his patriot speech.
Jimmy Heyward was set to deliver the speech at a forum for candidates for “Commissioner of School Spirit and Patriotism.”
His mother shared the details on a Change.org petition that is calling for Flock’s resignation.
According to the petition, Jimmy patterned his campaign around Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
“The Principal, Mary Flock, told him he needed to make changes to his speech,” the mother wrote. “She wanted everything in his speech regarding patriotism to be removed, even though ‘Patriotism’ was a part of the position’s title that he was running for. Ms Flock said that if he did not remove ALL parts about patriotism, he would not be able to read his speech with the rest of the candidates.”
In his speech, Jimmy shares his love for America and how it is “an honor” to live in the United States.
“I can promise to make pep rallies great again,” he concluded. “I will make the school spirit great again. I will make patriotism within SBS great again. And mostly, I will make SBS great again.”
The mother continued, “Jimmy stood up to her and said he wasn’t going to take the parts about patriotism out of his speech. [Mrs. Flock] then told him he would not be speaking. Jimmy sat on stage with all the other candidates while they said their speeches.”
According to his mother, when Jimmy refused to alter his speech, the principal “directed the kids hosting the rally to skip Jimmy entirely,” and her son “was on the stage for an hour in front of his peers/teachers/parents being completely humiliated by Mary Flock.”
When Jimmy’s father expressed his concern with the decision, school administrators told him to leave or they would call someone to make him leave.
The principal then proceeded to call the police, who, after hearing the story, told him he was free to stay and watch the rest of the event.
Jimmy’s parents are calling for Flock to step down through the Change.org petition. The petition had a goal of 1,500 signatures and has reached over 6,000.
And while Ms. Flock hoped to keep people from hearing Jimmy’s speech, it has more than four million views on X.
You can watch Jimmy’s speech here:
This is Jimmy. A middle schooler in California. He ran for “Commissioner of School Spirit & Patriotism” at school.
His principal allegedly made him change his speech and remove all mention of patriotism. When he refused, she reportedly didn’t allow him to give the speech and he… pic.twitter.com/25IaDjP5Zw
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 21, 2024
After news of Ms. Flock’s decision went viral, she briefly deleted her account on X.
UPDATE: The principal Mary Flock deleted her X account. There’s also now a petition to remove her from her position as principal. https://t.co/VYiFQ6RUIs pic.twitter.com/7rNShg90pk
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 21, 2024
Once she reinstated her account, she blocked Libs of TikTok, who shared her questionable decision.
UPDATE: The principal reinstated her account, changed her username, and blocked me. Almost like how she blocked a little kid from giving a patriotic speech. pic.twitter.com/CFgQ1fYnzy
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 22, 2024
