Title: Petition to Uphold National Flag Protocols and Institutional Neutrality in Winooski School District

To: Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria and the Winooski School Board

Statement of Purpose: This petition formally requests that the Winooski School District (WSD) align its flag-display policies with federal standards and prioritize national unity over foreign political symbolism. The recent decision to raise the Somali flag on school grounds represents a departure from established civic protocols.

Key Arguments:

• Adherence to Federal Standards: Under 4 U.S.C. § 7, the U.S. Flag Code establishes strict guidelines for the "Position and manner of display." While the district maintains the U.S. flag at the peak, the display of a foreign national flag as a political gesture by a domestic government entity conflicts with the principle of "superior prominence" reserved for the United States flag on its own soil.
• Institutional Neutrality: Educational institutions receive public funding to serve all students. Prioritizing the national symbol of a foreign country—particularly one associated with ongoing federal fraud investigations such as the $250 million Feeding Our Future case—creates an environment of political partiality rather than objective education.

Civic Unity: Public schools should serve as a common ground. The use of foreign national flags in response to domestic political debates detracts from the shared American identity that public education is tasked with fostering.

Our Demands:

1. Immediate Removal: Cease the display of all foreign national flags on school property except during specific, time-limited international exchange events.
2. Policy Revision: Implementation of a formal Board Policy stating that only the United States and Vermont state flags shall be flown on district-owned flagpoles.
3. Transparency: A public disclosure of the vetting process used to determine which foreign nations or community groups receive institutional endorsement through flag-raisings.

Thank you, NG