PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Three Plum High School students were asked to remove Confederate clothing after a complaint from a parent, and two who refused were sent home.

Robert Williams, a black parent of a Plum High School student, complained to administrators after he received a text message from his daughter that she felt “threatened” and “unsafe” in the same class as a student with a Confederate flag on the sleeves of his hoodie, TribLive.com reports.

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“When I talked to the principal, he told me he was advised by the solicitor and superintendent that wearing the shirt was protected under the dress code,” Williams said.

Superintendent Timothy Glasspool told the site the clothing is protected by the U.S. Constitution, and cited the Supreme Court ruling of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, which found “students don’t shed their constitutional rights at the school house gates.”

“We had a conversation with the student and his father. The father believes that his son is entitled to wear that,” Glasspool said. “It’s turned into a situation where one student’s rights clashes with another’s.”

Williams argued that his daughter is entitled to an education free from harassment, and Confederate flags “imply things that aren’t very nice.”

“Now it’s being used as a symbol for ‘white power,’” Williams said. “My daughter is afraid to be in class with this student. It’s disruptive to her learning environment.”

“As a black man, it is abhorrent that this is being allowed in the school,” he said.

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On Thursday, Glasspool told Williams there isn’t much he can do about the situation unless someone files a formal complaint.

“We cannot restrict students’ (free) speech absent of something that would disrupt the school day,” he said.

The next day, Glasspool told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette district officials had received more than 50 complaints about the Confederate clothing, so they asked three students to remove the symbol from their clothing. Two refused, and they were sent home.

“As an educational institution we view this as a learning opportunity for our children and encourage all families to discuss how these symbols can cause fear or anxiety in others,” Glasspool wrote in a letter to parents.

“The practice of ethnic, religious, racial or gender charged symbols that profess hatred, bigotry, or oppression has no place in any learning institution and will not be tolerated in Plum schools.”

Several folks who commented online about the situation were not impressed by the district’s flip-flop.

“Freedoms of speech – they should be able to wear whatever they want whether you like it or not,” MB posted to the Post-Gazette comments.

“Kids are wimps today,” Gregory Itle added. “The real world could care less if one is offended. The younger generation in general does not have any strength.”