An unitendified student in Erwin High School's JROTC program (Ashville, North Carolina) wore a Confederate uniform during a football game ceremony on October 7th. The partial uniform, consisting only of coat and kepi, was worn on Armed Services Night during a football game. Buncombe County Schools' current dress code policy bans Confederate symbols. However no Confederate symbol was used.
"The event was during the Erwin Football game last Friday," school board spokesperson Stacia Harris stated. "It was Armed Services night which is an annual tradition that involves all of the JROTC Cadets. The costumes for the color guard were chosen to represent different military eras. The costumes range in the level of detail and historical authenticity. The school board is not involved; however, the central office and school administrators have looked into the situation and, moving forward, will better train our staff to screen for appropriateness as related to historical period piece costumes,” Harris wrote.
The Battle of Asheville, a five-hour standoff at the city’s northern outskirts, occured in April of 1865. historian John Inscoe has written that "Asheville had once aspired to be the “capital of the Confederacy,” with its recruitment camps, rifle factory and geographic centrality".
It would seem to represent different military eras in this area, it would be entirely appropriate to show this historical period piece. Of the 5 cadets displaying different uniforms, certianly not all eras or branches are depicted. It is not clear how the costumes were chosen. This article uses the word costumes, as none were historically accurate uniforms and only loosely based on the actual uniforms.