Vick's football jersey will remain down

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., March 23 (UPI) -- Michael Vick's high school football jersey won't be re-hung at his old Virginia school despite a student campaign to have it put back up, school officials said.

The jersey was removed following Vick's 2007 conviction on dogfighting charges, for which he served most of a 23-month sentence in federal prison and then a term of house arrest before returning to the NFL, The (Norfolk) Virginian Pilot reported.

After Vick's successful NFL comeback with the Philadelphia Eagles, hundreds of students at Warwick High in Newport News rallied to convince school administrators to forgive Vick and re-hang his old number 7 jersey.

However, the jersey will not be returned to display for the remainder of the year, school officials told TMZ.com Wednesday.

Officials said jersey would be a "distraction to the student's education" and were concerned the jersey could be vandalized or stolen, TMZ reported.

School officials reportedly have said they may consider returning the jersey to a place of honor sometime in the future.