Colo. school district denies football team's plan to honor military

A Colorado school district has denied a high school football team's request to honor fallen service members by wearing their names on the back of jerseys on military appreciation night — and it's not going over well with students and parents.

KCNC reports that players on the Fossil Ridge High School football team spent the summer in military training and education. Along with physical work, they were required to research deceased members of the Armed Forces. They planned to put those names on the back of their jerseys for one game night, but the Poudre School District said no.

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The district says allowing players to wear the names on their jerseys would open the door to similar requests from other causes.

It explained in a statement, "Sometimes PSD has to deny a request to avoid unintended consequences, even when the request is in pursuit of a worthy cause. In this situation, a well-intended and passionate parent presented a select list of names of fallen heroes to be placed on the game jerseys. If the district allows someone else to make the decision about what is placed on game jerseys, legally the district may have to allow others to do the same in the future. Therefore, the request was denied."

Some parents told KMGH that's not enough. One mother said, "For all the other organizations at school I think the football team is setting a great example."

Lt. Colonel Randy Russell of the U.S. Air Force Reserve whose son is on the team said, "I believe that as an American it's important that we be able to do something as simple as memorialize these fallen heroes on the back of a uniform."

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