Students told to stop flying U.S. flags over safety fears. The directive was not well received.

On Veterans Day, a handful of Nebraska welding students from the Career Academy of Lincoln Public Schools decided to fly American flags on their vehicles using flag holders they created in class.

But after one of the flags was removed from its pole and placed in an adjacent truck bed, school officials apparently got cold feet.

Fearing disruptions or worse — particularly on the heels of an ultra contentious presidential election that resulted in widespread protests — officials told all students to not fly flags again in the school parking lot.

As you might imagine, the sudden flag ban didn't sit well with many students and other community members who said their constitutional rights were being taken away.

But Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel apologized for the move on Thursday.

“Hindsight would suggest that this could have been handled in a different way,” he said, according to the Lincoln Journal Star. “We respect the rights of students to display their flags. We should not have asked our students to remove them. We believe that decision was in error and we believe this could easily and understandably have been misinterpreted as infringing on rights of freedom of expression and speech.”

So, yes, students can fly flags again.

“Lincoln Public Schools believes in the teaching of the Constitution and all that it represents,” he said, the paper reported. “Patriotism is an important part of the learning experience.”

(H/T: Todd Starnes)