Concerns about student safety [stemming from potential confrontations] and potential disruptions prompted administrators at Lincoln Public Schools’ Career Academy to ask welding students not to fly U.S. flags on their vehicles from holders they made in class….

The directive prohibiting displaying the flags in the school’s parking lot was prompted by an incident on Friday, when a Southeast Community College student [for unknown reasons] removed one of the flags from a holder and put it in the bed of a pickup next to the vehicle flying the flag.

Seven or eight welding students had flown the flags in recognition of Veterans Day with permission of Career Academy officials, who thought it was a great ending to the students’ welding project, [Career Academy Director Dan] Hohensee said….

“[O]ut of an abundance of caution” for both LPS and SCC students, Career Academy administrators asked students not to fly the flags again in the parking lot.

Hohensee said administrators worried that another such incident could result in a personal confrontation or property damage….

That’s different than flying a full-sized flag, which was appropriate on Veterans Day but on other days could be misinterpreted in light of the divisive election and anxiety like that expressed by Nebraska Latinos in a recent news story, Hohensee said.