A Confederate flag was seized from a Big Bear High School student on the last day of school this week after he was seen strolling campus with the flag draped over his back like a cape.

A photograph circulating on Facebook on Thursday, June 10, showed the boy with two other students — one draped with a Trump 2020 flag and the other wearing a Blue Lives Matter flag — parading along an indoor hallway on campus. None of the students were identified.

Bear Valley Unified School District Superintendent Mary M. Suzuki said Friday a teacher spotted a student pulling the Confederate flag out of his backpack before classes started Thursday morning. The student draped the flag over his back and walked off toward the quad. The assistant principal was immediately notified, made contact with the student and seized the flag, Suzuki said.

The other students’ flags were not confiscated, falling under First Amendment protections, Suzuki said.

But the courts do not assure such protections for the Confederate flag. “It is considered a symbol of hate at this point. We take it seriously,” Suzuki said.

An investigation into the incident is underway. Suzuki said she could not comment on any discipline the offending student may face, nor would she confirm what grade he was in. She said the incident was the first of its kind in her six years as superintendent.

A notice was sent out on the district’s Facebook page, website and app Friday informing staff and parents of the incident. The notice said a counselor would be available on campus Monday to meet with any students who want to discuss the incident and its impact on them.

“Be assured that this type of behavior will not be tolerated on our campus,” the notice said.

The hot-button topic of offensive flags has been a recurring theme at San Bernardino Mountains high schools in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s 2016 election and amid the politically charged rhetoric spewing on social media from both sides of the political aisle.

In September 2016, more than a dozen parents and students showed up to a Rim of the World Unified School District Board of Trustees meeting to weigh in on a small group of students who had staked Confederate flags in the backs of their pickup trucks. That was among other racially fueled incidents on campus that year that prompted the suspension of at least one student.

Under school district policies, Suzuki said, students are prohibited from wearing clothing or other items expressing hate speech or anything that can be construed as hate speech.

“If something is obstructing the educational environment, we have to address it,” she said.