Catawba County Schools board pulled flag display policy from Monday’s agenda without a vote

Updated Sept. 28, 2026, 8:14 p.m. ET

NEWTON — The Catawba County Board of Education did not vote Monday night on a proposed policy that would limit the flags Catawba County Schools and its employees may display on school property to the U.S. flag, the North Carolina flag, military flags and school flags. The board took the policy off its agenda at the start of its 6 p.m. regular meeting, according to the district’s livestream video of the meeting.

When the board took up adjustment and approval of the agenda, the changes read aloud included removing new business item 9b, “9.2500 CCS flag display policy.” The board then approved the amended agenda by a show of hands, and board Chair Tim Settlemyre, who presided, called the vote unanimous. The video does not identify by name who made or seconded the motion. No one at the meeting gave a reason for removing the policy, and no new date for it was announced. The same agenda change removed a bid item for a new greenhouse at Maiden High School.

The only board policy taken up at the regular meeting was a separate measure, Policy 6.1230/4.4500 on emergency epinephrine delivery systems, which board attorney Jonathan Sink presented on second reading.

The draft, Policy 9.2500, “Catawba County Schools Flag Display Policy,” was on the board’s agenda twice Monday. Sink was scheduled to present it for a first reading at the board’s daytime work session, and it was set to return at the 6 p.m. regular meeting for “consideration and adoption on second reading,” according to agendas the district posted Sept. 21. The board takes no action during work sessions, the district’s public notice says. The work session was not livestreamed, and Catawba First News could not confirm whether the first-reading presentation took place.

What the policy would allow

Under the draft, the only flags that could be “flown, posted, mounted, or otherwise permanently or semi-permanently displayed” on school property by a school, its administration, faculty or staff would be:

• the U.S. flag, displayed in keeping with the U.S. Flag Code;
• the North Carolina flag;
• the official flags of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force and Coast Guard, plus the National League of Families POW/MIA flag;
• an official Catawba County Schools flag, if one is adopted, or a school’s mascot or institutional flag.

“No other flag, banner, or flag-like symbol may be displayed by the school in classrooms, offices, or common areas, or flown on school flagpoles,” the draft says. The rule would cover classrooms, offices, hallways, common areas, athletic facilities and outside grounds at any school or building run by the district.

The policy does not name any particular flag that would be barred. It says its purpose is to “maintain a consistent, non-partisan learning environment” while keeping flags available for teaching and protecting students’ free-speech rights.

What it would not cover

The draft lists five exceptions:

• Teaching. Teachers could use flags of other countries, states, historical periods or groups for lessons such as world geography, history, foreign language or model United Nations, for as long as the lesson or unit lasts. The draft says those displays “are not intended to serve as permanent classroom decor.”
• Students’ own items. Flags on students’ clothing, bags, artwork or other belongings would not be covered, as long as they meet the dress code and Student Code of Conduct and don’t cause a “substantial disruption.”
• Student work. Flags in assignments, projects, student newspapers or yearbooks would be allowed.
• Historical and memorial displays. Displays approved by school leaders, such as one honoring veterans with historical military unit flags, would be allowed.
• Achievement banners. Championship banners and college pennants in counseling offices would stay.

Principals would enforce the policy at their schools. The draft says it must be applied “in a viewpoint-neutral manner” consistent with state and federal law, including students’ First Amendment rights. It cites the First Amendment, the free-speech section of the state constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1969 student-speech ruling in Tinker v. Des Moines.

Catawba County Schools’ posted board policies do not include an existing 9.2500. The flag policy did not appear on the board’s July 27 or Aug. 17 agendas.

Other North Carolina school boards have taken up similar limits. In May 2024, the New Hanover County Board of Education voted 4-3 to limit classroom and school displays, including flags, to the U.S., North Carolina, the county, the school name and mascot, and approved curriculum, WHQR reported.

Tom Dees’ role

Catawba First News publisher Tom Dees says he was the first to champion a flag policy like this one during his 2020 run for the Catawba County Board of Commissioners. Dees ran in the 2020 Republican primary for the Board of Commissioners and finished fourth of seven candidates for two seats, according to State Board of Elections results.

Disclosure: Tom Dees is the publisher of Catawba First News. He ran for the Catawba County Board of Education in the March 2026 Republican primary and finished sixth of 10 candidates for four seats. He also chairs the Catawba Valley Republican Men.

What happens next

The district has not said when, or whether, Policy 9.2500 will come back to the board. The board’s regular meetings stream live at catawbaschools.net/live-stream.

Earlier coverage: Catawba County Schools draws the line: bathrooms by biological sex

As of publication: Catawba County Schools had not posted a statement explaining why the flag policy was removed from Monday’s agenda or when it might return. The board has not voted on Policy 9.2500.

Source note

• Catawba County Board of Education, Policy 9.2500, “Catawba County Schools Flag Display Policy”: first-reading draft and second-reading packet copy (same text), posted Sept. 21, 2026.
• Work session tentative agenda, Sept. 28, 2026; regular meeting tentative agenda, Sept. 28, 2026; public notice, Sept. 21, 2026.
• Catawba County Schools, School Board page and posted board policies.
• N.C. State Board of Elections, Catawba County results for the March 3, 2020 and March 3, 2026 primaries.
• WHQR, “NHC school board passes snap motion to limit flags, displays in classrooms,” May 8, 2024.
• Catawba County Board of Education, livestream video of the Sept. 28, 2026, regular meeting (board YouTube channel, @ccsboard; agenda adjustment at about 13:05 to 13:55).
• Tip: a local news report, Facebook post, Sept. 28, 2026.

Cover: File photo, not the site: U.S. and North Carolina flags fly outside Northern Guilford High School in Guilford County, N.C., in December 2023. Photo: DocFreeman24 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped and resized.