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An Oklahoma mom says her two daughters were arrested and suspended from their high school after refusing to stand for the national anthem.
The incident happened at a Lawton High School pep rally on September 2 when a teacher confronted Samantha Woods' daughters on why they didn't stand.
“The teacher got right in her face and told her, ‘No, you need to stand up.' So then when my kids get agitated, and they get loud with her, that’s when she went and got the principal and police," Woods told KFOR.
The two girls were then arrested for disturbing the peace and suspended from school for 30 days.
Woods emphasizes that her daughters weren't arrested because they refused to stand for the anthem, but they were arrested because the teacher accused them of making threats during the confrontation.
“There would have been no behavior if she (the teacher) didn’t ask them to stand. They told her no, and she should’ve just kept going," the mom said.
The American Civil Liberties Union recently sent a letter to the Lawton school district's superintendent asking for the girls' suspension to be overturned because they were practicing their First Amendment right.
The district offered few details about the incident. In a statement it said, "The district can also confirm that no person was arrested, handcuffed, or disciplined at LPS, nor would we do so for refusing to stand for the National Anthem. Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on anything that relates to students due to privacy laws."