A Wisconsin school board voted Tuesday night to uphold a policy banning gay pride flags and other partisan political items from being displayed in classrooms or worn on clothing by staff.
This includes displaying political or religious messages, including gay pride flags, Thin Blue Line, and MAGA items. Staff also cannot say in emails what their preferred pronouns are.
The issue was raised at the Kettle Moraine School Board meeting attended by the public after legal analysis of the existing policy changed.
The school board’s vote on Tuesday did not change the wording of the policy in any way, but did change how the district interprets and applies the policy, the school board’s president, Gary Vose, noted at the public meeting.
“I'd also point out that this policy is much broader than pronouns or pride flags,” Vose said. “We need to understand that although that was the issue that was really raised by the public tonight this [policy] gets well beyond that.”Vote
The issue was voted on unanimously at a prior meeting, but this time board clerk Jim Romanowski changed his vote to no after hearing from students, staff, and friends.Responding to Romanowski, who did not agree that gay pride flags should be banned under the updated interpretation of the policy, Vose noted that the bans would enable all Kettle Moraine staff to support all students regardless of partisan politics or sexuality.
“Clearly it is our intent to have all staff members support all students and I would submit that by having pride flags in some classrooms and not in others that—maybe it’s not the intent—but it could send the message that some staff members want to support students with various lifestyle choices and others do not,” Vose said.
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During the meeting, Vose noted the larger-than-usual attendance by members of the public. Public comments were initially expanded to 60 minutes at the top of the meeting and public requests for further time were denied.
Most public comments on the night were against the policy, but board member Kelly Brown noted that the majority of the emails she received about the policy from district residents “were pro the policy.”
Brown also sought “stronger language” to better define the policy “so staff understand what is allowable and what isn’t.”
An online petition started by two students opposing the policy has received more than 13,000 signatures, the Associated Press reported. It is not clear how many of those signatures came from outside of the school district.
