Exclusive: Father of Indiana student who resolutely flies American flag on truck calls son a ‘hero’

The father of a student in Indiana said he considers his son “his hero” after the teen refused pressure from school officials telling him to stop flying the American flag.

Cameron Blasek, a 17-year-old senior at East Central High School in Sunman, was mired in controversy after school officials told him not to fly the American flag from his truck at school.

The story went viral after Libs of TikTok publicized it on X, generating more than 6 million views on the post.

“SCOOP: A student at @EastCentralHS in Indiana drove to school with an American flag on the back of his truck. The school reportedly responded by threatening to punish him if he didn’t remove it,” said the post. 

His father, Christopher Blasek, told The Lion that school officials talked to his son several times over a period of days, warning Cameron he could face in-school suspension and worse if he continued to fly the American flag from his truck to school. 

“It kind of played off in farther time than just one day. They told him a couple of times” not to fly the flag, the elder Blasek said.  

Cameron checked the handbook and saw no mention of flag flying being banned and went back to read the handbook to school administrators who were pressuring him.  

Christopher told his son before he even flew the flag on his truck to make sure the flag was securely in place and complied with state laws. 

“I was adamant that he mounted it properly on the back of the truck so that it didn’t come off and fly through someone’s windshield,” he told The Lion.  

After Cameron met with school administrators, Christopher says his son came home bothered. 

“He came home that night upset, but not like real upset – just kind of mad about the whole situation, telling us what happened,” the father told The Lion. 

He told his son he had to be responsible for his actions and think through what he really believed in. 

“I just explained to him I was always told that every action has a reaction,” Christopher recalls telling his son. “So if you’re going to live by what you believe in, I’m behind you 100%. But you got to realize that starts off with in-school suspension.” 

He then warned his son it could escalate to the point where he doesn’t graduate this year.  

“So it blew up more than it ever should have, in my personal opinion,” Christopher said. “They never should have asked him to take it out there without giving a true reason why.” 

The school eventually relented, allowing Cameron to fly the flag, but did not explain what motivated the original demand. 

The elder Blasek still doesn’t know the district’s reasoning, saying he only heard from the school one time, and that was when they “backtracked” on the decision and “said we’re going to allow him to fly the flag.” 

However, in an exclusive statement to The Lion, Sunman-Dearborn Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Andrew Jackson said it had to do with a rule going several years back against flags on vehicles. 

“We have had a rule for several years at East Central High School that no flags are allowed on vehicles in our parking lot,” Jackson said. “The rule was never about the U.S. flag, and it was regarding all flags on vehicles. This is due to potential safety issues with visibility and 500-600 teenage drivers leaving at the same time during dismissal, as well as concerns that flags that are not appropriate for school will be displayed.” 

But Jackson said he decided to allow U.S. flags as an exception to the policy on Friday, even before the viral Libs of TikTok post was published. 

Blasek characterized the town of Sunman as a place where you see a lot of “American flags. There’s other flags there too. I mean, it’s not a political town.”  

When asked if he thought the attempt at prohibiting the flag was driven by political considerations of the administrators, Blasek was hopeful but not certain politics has anything to do it. 

“I mean, I surely wouldn’t think it was a political thing, but today, the way things get, everything seems like it could be motivated that way,” he added.  

But one thing he is very sure of, he told The Lion: He’s really proud of his son. 

“One hundred percent, I told him I’m proud of him. He’s my hero.” 

The entire statement from Sunman-Dearborn Community Schools Superintendent Dr. Andrew Jackson is below:

Thank you for the opportunity to provide some context to the confusion regarding this issue. Due to the social media influence, it has been hard for our public to fully understand the circumstances. The information I have included below contains important context to the story so I respectfully ask that you include all of the information. Thank you. 

We have had a rule for several years at East Central High School that no flags are allowed on vehicles in our parking lot. The rule was never about the US Flag, and it was regarding all flags on vehicles. This is due to potential safety issues with visibility and 500-600 teenage drivers leaving at the same time during dismissal, as well as concerns that flags that are not appropriate for school will be displayed. 

ECHS administration met with a student on Thursday during lunch to remind him of the rule of no flags and that he will need to remove the flag from his vehicle. 

On Friday morning, several students came to school with the US Flag displayed on their vehicle. Mr. Black, ECHS Principal, consulted with me on Friday morning. I clarified that we can allow the US Flag while still having the authority to restrict other flags that are deemed inappropriate for school. 

ECHS administration met with most of the students Friday and informed them that they would be allowed to display the US Flag, but they must abide by the US Flag Code.  This was before the original social media post. The inaccurate narrative is that we changed our mind due to social media backlash. That is not true, as the timeline reveals.   

We regret and are sorry for the confusion and are working diligently to clarify the issue with our community. 

Sincerely, 

Andrew Jackson 

Superintendent