An honor student in California had to turn his shirt inside-out at school because the patriotic shirt was alleged to be "gang related."

Dustin Cole, a student at Yuba Gardens Intermediate school in Olivehurst, arrived home last week wearing the T-shirt his mom had bought him inside out.

Lori Carpenter said she questioned her son, who told her he received a dress code violation for wearing the shirt, which Carpenter recently bought at Kohl's. She said she liked the shirt's American flag design and blue color for her son.

"He said he was 'dress coded' at school because the stars were gang related," Carpenter told Fox 40.

Here is a picture of the shirt:

Fox News writes, "the red star on the shirt blurs the line between free speech and safety. The star, the school said, is often associated with the Norteno gang."

"Our local gang task force, they identify colors, they identify designs, they identify all of the things that we should be aware of," Ramiro Carreon, assistant superintendent at Marysville Joint Unified School District, told the station.

"That design has been associated with gangs in the past, and we cannot just turn a blind eye to that," Carreon said.