RUPERT — Close to 50 Latino students turned out at Minico High School today with Mexican flags to silently support a Latino student who has accused his teacher of taking his Mexican flag and throwing it in a garbage can on Cinco de Mayo, said student Gina Rodriguez.

"We respect their flag," said Yolany Contreras, 15. "Why shouldn't they respect ours?"

The Latino students who were encouraged to protest by local radio personality Ben Reed, agree racism against Latinos at the school is not the norm.

"Minico isn't like this," said Rodriguez, 16.

There were no confrontations in the morning, according to school Principal Dan Rogers.

After the lunch period, however, as many as 10 other students responded by grabbing American flags and started waving them in classes and down the halls, Rodriguez said.

At 3:05 p.m., English as a Second Language teacher Dan Luker went on radio La Fantastica to apologize for retaliating against the administration Tuesday for a perceived lack of action to staunch anti-Hispanic racism at the school.

After deciding to resign several weeks ago and applying to a program in Dallas, Luker ran into the assistant principal's office, yelled at him and "mistreated an American flag," he said. Luker was suspended without pay for the action, he said.

"My intent was to try to get people to see how painful that is to have your flag insulted," he said. "But I made that decision rashly and I just did something I never should have done. My purpose on going on the radio was to admit to the Spanish-speaking community that what I did was wrong."

"Throughout my career I have tried to show my students a good example," he said. "But the fact is that what I did was the worst example."