Volusia mom says son’s “Black Lives Matter” backpack ridiculed by elementary school teacher

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — A Volusia County mom says a teacher at her son’s school suddenly objected to his “Black Lives Matter” backpack, even though he’d been wearing it for weeks.

Lisa Rinehart-Nolan says her son Trayce, a fourth-grader at Pathways Elementary School, has worn the backpack since the start of the school year.

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However, she says a Physical Education teacher at the school stopped him and had a problem with it for the first time just this week.

Trayce recalls, "He asked me, what’s your backpack say? I said, Black Lives Matter! And then he asked me, don’t all lives matter? And I said, yes but that Black Lives Matter right now, though, too. And then he asked, do you think that person’s life matters, don’t you think my life matters?

Trayce says another teacher later noticed he was upset, asked him why, then told him to go see the principal.

Trace’s mother says she immediately requested a meeting at the school.

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“I said...I want to sit down with this man, because this is unacceptable in so many different levels,” Rinehart-Nolan said.

The school district hasn’t commented on the incident except to say they’re investigating it. They said they do have a policy in place that generally prohibits the display of political campaign materials on school grounds.

Rinehart-Nolan says that shouldn’t apply to her son’s backpack.

“That’s not political, that’s social,” she said.

Rinehart-Nolan says she hasn’t gotten a response from the school or superintendent since their meeting.

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She says she wants an apology for her son, and she won’t rest until she gets it.

Rinehart-Nolan says Trayce will be wearing his backpack at school again on Monday.

Cox Media Group