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LOVELAND, Colo. — A Colorado high school student has had his rosary beads confiscated twice in three weeks by school officials who said the item could be gang related.
Manuel Vigil, a junior at Thompson Valley High School in Loveland, Colo., had worn rosary beads around his neck all summer to help him deal with the recent murder of an uncle in California, according to his mother, Antoinette Ramirez.
"Having the rosary taken away was kind of like a huge hit for him," she told the Reporter-Herald. "He wears it as a form of protection for himself."
District officials said the school gave Vigil, a Catholic, the choice to put the beads under his shirt, but that he refused.
"It wasn't consistent with what would normally be a rosary, and because of that we felt like it could be gang-related," principal Mark Johnson said. "There was no punishment; we just removed it."
Vigil said he was never given the option to put the beads under his shirt, though.
"If he would have given me that option, I would have put it in my shirt," he told KDVR.
District policy forbids clothing and other items that "by virtue of color, arrangement, trademark, or other attribute denote membership in gangs which advocate drug use, violence, or disruptive behavior."
The cause for concern with Vigil's rosary was that the rosary had 13 beads per section instead of the usual 10, which can be associated with the Sureños gang, according to district officials. Vigil said he was unaware of the connection.
"I could see if I was out doing gang activity, but I've never been in trouble with the law, never been in trouble at school," he said.
The incident follows a string of recent decisions related to dress code that have led to conflict between schools and parents.
In August, a Nebraska school district came under fire after allegedly asking a deaf preschooler to change how he signed his name because the sign apparently resembled a gun. And a Colorado third-grader was told to change out of his Peyton Manning jersey earlier this month because Manning's number, 18, is too close to the name of the 18th Street Gang.
