T-shirts handed out by a National Guard recruiter at a local high school have caused heated debate among parents, students and the school district. The Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk superintendent says the shirts are not appropriate for students to be wearing in school.

The T-shirts in question say “National Guard” across the top and then show the silhouette of a solider holding a gun in front of the American Flag. The school district says it has a very strict policy forbidding students from wearing any clothing that has a weapon on it….

Superintendent of RCS Schools, Alan McCartney says rules are rules and if an exception is made for one shirt with a gun on it, where do you draw the line? “One of the problems you have in school during this period in our history is that the weapon becomes the focal point for some people,” McCartney says…. “[T]his has nothing to do with patriotism, nothing to do with anybody disliking the military, it has nothing to do with the recruiter himself, it just has to do with the fact that there was a weapon on the shirt and that just doesn’t have a place in a high school,” he says….

A number of students refused to take the shirts off on Friday, saying that they felt the policy was disrespectful to the recruiter who is an active member of the National Guard.