Old Flag Has New Glory on Campus

At Lee Elementary School, there’s a new way to display Old Glory.

After more than a year of dangling from a stick, the American flag now flies above the school’s playground on a freshly-painted white pole. All 660 students gather beneath it on weekdays for morning announcements, the Pledge of Allegiance and a sing-along.

Principal Jeanie Cash began the daily patriotic event on the playground when she started her job in September 1996.

“We had this stick flag that we were carrying, and the little ones were dragging it on the ground,” Cash said. “We just didn’t have the money to buy a flag pole.”

Cash, with help from Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) and parents, secured the 40-foot pole from the now-closed post office on Reagan Street. The school’s large flag once flew above the nation’s Capitol.

Los Alamitos City Hall, which oversees the post office property, approved the gift and the flag was hoisted up the new pole last week.

“The first morning when the flag was raised they just burst into applause,” Cash said.

During Friday’s 7:55 a.m. gathering, students and teachers were dressed in red and white, the school’s colors, in accordance with spirit day.

The students raised the flag, recited the pledge, listened to announcements and wished a happy birthday to their peers who turned another year older. There was even a round of “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

“I like big things, and that’s a big flag,” said first-grader Bryan Hudson, 7. “It’s really high.”