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Taravella High School Students Claim They Were Discouraged From Showing Pride on Haitian Flag Day

Chaos erupted at a Coral Springs high school, when students acted out after some say they were discouraged from displaying their love for their country on Haitian Flag Day.

The incident occurred at J.P. Taravella High School in Coral Springs Friday.

"It turned into chaos because we felt as if like everybody was judging us," said Alexis Jones, a student at Taravella.

Students said there were food fights, riots and a lot of skipping classes.

The controversy ignited from an incident that occurred Wednesday. Student Danitra Toomer posted on social media that a school administrator snatched her property after she was taking a picture representing her country

"It wasn't fair to me either because I was trying to take pictures and how come they get the stuff taken away," Toomer said.

The student said she was later told to take down her offensive tweets.

Both the administrator and student made amends but that didn't stop some students from disrupting the school day Friday.

Principal of J.P. Taravella, Shawn Cerra, responded to the incident on Twitter: "Some of us throwing food, water bottles, pushing others, refusing to go to class and not listening to any adults?? We're better than this!!!"

He also added: "As you well know, we strive to support ALL of our STUDENTS & THEIR heritages. I feel bad that this happened. Sorry!"

Broward County Public Schools released the following statement:

Broward County Public Schools takes pride in a culturally rich and diverse student population, representing 208 different countries and speaking 181 different languages. Students are absolutely allowed and encouraged to celebrate their heritage. However, in doing so, students are not allowed to disrupt the school day or violate the Code of Student Conduct.

Today, school administrators did need to stop a "celebration" at lunch when some students became unruly and disruptive. The situation was brought under control quickly by school leadership and local law enforcement. The school was placed on a modified lockdown and students returned to their classes. The modified lockdown remained in effect until dismissal this afternoon.

Regarding inquiries about discipline, at this juncture no student has received discipline according to the District's Student Code of Conduct and the Discipline Matrix.

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