Is a crucifix a religious symbol or a gang insignia?

An Albany high school principal made up his mind and suspended two students for wearing them. The school suggests the crucifix could signal gang behavior.

District 8J school officials say they are trying to be proactive and keep gangs from getting a foothold. The kids say they are not gang members and feel they are being singled out.

When is a religious symbol, not a religious symbol?

It's this cross that caused trouble for South Albany High School freshman, Jaime Salazar. He says he refused to remove the crucifix when asked to by South Albany principal Chris Equinoa, leading to a five day suspension. The student says the cross is a gift from his mom.

Salazar explained, "She says she felt bad because they're accusing us of being bad people when we're really not."

"To be honest, this is the first incident I've ever had with the crucifixes," says Albany Police officer Ken Fandrem, who is also the school resource officer at South Albany.

Fandrem says he's heard of kids in other school districts wearing crosses or rosaries to signify gang affiliation and it's something that needs to be tracked. He adds this is not racial profiling and tells KVAL,
"We don't pick any color. We look at what the problem is at the time; what we have going on."

Executive Assistant to the 8J superintendent, Jim Haggart, says, "In this case, they were also alerted that it might be religious medals or rosaries worn around the neck of a student."

The boys believe their Latino background makes them targets in this case, but school officials say race is not the issue. They say it's campus safety.

However, civil libertarians say this is the kind of policy that can backfire.
Director Dave Fidanque of the A-C-L-U of Oregon explains, "The critical thing is keeping the kids in school. I worry about any enforcement action by school officials if they don't know what they're doing."

"It's something the police had told the schools to be alert about; the principal responded to that and asked the student about it. It's not a racial thing," states Jim Haggart.

Meanwhile, it was back to school Monday for Salazar without the crucifix, saying, "My mom told me to wear it no more."

Junior Marco Castro was suspended 3 days after refusing to take off a string of rosary beads.

Principal Equinoa refused Sunday to talk to a reporter from our Portland affiliate (KATU) and didn't want us on campus today.