ALBANY - Maria Salazar is very clear: Her son is not a gang member and she gave him a crucifix to wear out of love.

Principal Chris Equinoa is equally clear: Religious items are not banned, but he reserves the right to ask a student to remove, or cover up, any item he feels could indicate gang affiliation - even a crucifix.

Maria's son Jaime Salazar, 14, was one of two youths suspended from South Albany High School recently for defiance and "gang-related behavior" after they refused to put away items they were wearing around their necks.

Speaking through an interpreter, Maria Salazar said she purchased the crucifix, on a necklace of blue beads, last year in Mexico. She said she gave it to her son "because it has the cross of God. We are Catholics."

Jaime Salazar insists he is not affiliated with any gang. He and his friend Marco Castro, 16, who was also suspended, say they believe their Latino background makes them targets.

Salazar said he has worn the crucifix necklace off and on since school began. On Feb. 15, he said, he was eating breakfast when Equinoa approached to tell him it was time for class.

Salazar said Equinoa saw the necklace and told him to put it away. "I was like, why?" he recalled. "He says it's related to gangs."

Salazar said he argued and was sent to the office. Instead, he went home. Later, he received a note saying he had been suspended for five days for "defiance and gang-related behavior."

Castro, a junior, was suspended for three days after refusing to take off a string of milky rosary beads, with a crucifix and a tiny picture of the Virgin Mary, that he was wearing around his neck. His mother gave it to him, he said.

Castro said Equinoa first approached him Feb. 14 and asked to talk about the rosary. Castro said he agreed to put it away but wore it again the next day. An assistant principal told him to put it away and he refused.

Castro also insists he does not belong to a gang. Nor is he particularly religious, he acknowledged, although his background is also Catholic. He said he doesn't see his personal faith as reason to insist he remove a rosary.

Albany school district policies prohibit any clothing, jewelry, emblem or evidence of membership or support of any gang. A separate policy allows staff members to wear "inconspicuous" items of religious adornment, including crosses, but doesn't address students.

Principals have the latitude to determine the difference between genuine religious observance and gang symbols, said Jim Haggart, executive assistant to the superintendent. "We're not trying to squash any religious symbols and we're not trying to get into religion, but we are trying to get into student safety, and that's what we're really concerned about."

Equinoa said he could not comment on specific student discipline issues. However, he said, any directive to a student to remove or cover any item, religious or otherwise, would not be made without other information.

A student who has in the past been seen with other gang indicators who suddenly shows up with a crucifix might be asked to put it away, Equinoa said.

"Students who do wear them, and wear them in a way to draw attention to them … that's when we tell them to cover it up," he said.

Formerly an administrator in Southern California, Equinoa said he's familiar with the pain and fright that gangs can inflict on a school.

"We don't want to see it get to that point," he said.

Bud Bunce, spokesman for the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Portland, said his office has received no reports of gangs using crucifixes or rosaries to identify themselves. The archdiocese represents Catholic churches in Oregon west of the Cascades, from the California border to the Washington border.

But Albany police say fellow officers in Salem and Hillsboro have been contending with crucifixes and rosaries as gang markers for the past several years. Their appearance at South could be an indication that the markers are moving in, said Officer Ken Fandrem, who leads a gang task force that meets monthly.

"They put their gang colors on the rosaries and claim they're religious," Fandrem said. "This is the first time I've dealt with it (here)."

Equinoa said Fandrem led a training in October on gang identifiers for staff members from South Albany, Calapooia Middle School and the alternative Albany Options School. Religious items were among the possible markers mentioned.

Students specifically weren't told about the markers, "because they morph," Equinoa said. "You can never get a solid target."

That's exactly the problem, said Dave Fidanque, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon. And that's why his office would urge schools to be extremely careful before taking a step that could be seen as discriminatory.

"The problem with these kinds of actions by administrators is that often they don't know, and they have really no way of knowing, what is gang insignia and what isn't," Fidanque said. "Kids have ways of wearing emblems they think are cool. Distinguishing between that and actual gang activity is a very, very tricky business."

What happens, he said, is administrators end up using clothing or jewelry to target students they think may be considering joining a gang. The motivation is noble, he said, but it can backfire if the student feels he has been unfairly singled out.

If the student really is a gang member, the targeting isn't going to help, Fidanque said. And if he isn't, or was only toying with the idea, "then the principal has pushed away a kid who should be an ally in the fight against gangs, and made it less likely that that kid will want to cooperate with authorities in the future."

Maria Salazar said she thinks that's what has happened with her family. Jaime has an older brother and sister who said they also felt they were targets of unfair discipline and untrue gang comments while in high school. His sister said she eventually left school because of what she perceived as harassment.

Maria said she told Jaime not to wear the crucifix to school again, because he needs to stay in class. But she said she doesn't think Equinoa was right to tell him to cover it.

"I don't feel good about it," she said. "No contento. No contento."