A Montana high school student was disciplined Tuesday for wearing a Confederate flag sweatshirt after school officials told him not to.

Mitchell Ballas, 17, was suspended after wearing the sweatshirt to Big Sky High School every day since last week. The student denies the flag represents hate and said he’s wearing it to stand up for students’ freedom of speech.

“The school is in the wrong for saying they can dictate me wearing this sweatshirt,” Ballas said. “They’re saying it’s offending kids and it’s derogatory and all that, but it’s not. It’s my First Amendment right.”

A Big Sky High School student was suspended from school Tuesday for repeatedly wearing a Confederate flag sweatshirt, despite the administration’s requests that he take it off. https://t.co/mZ6F0hcv1M #Missoula pic.twitter.com/xS5bqBdZEv — Missoulian (@missoulian) May 17, 2018

The school handbook and dress code allows wearing the symbol, Ballas added.

But while the school doesn’t ban symbols, it can deem a student’s behavior “a disruption of the learning environment” and discipline students “regardless of where or how the specific behavior occurs.” – READ MORE