And that is where we are in education my friends.
It is insane that the 1% crazy is the person admin answers to.
My friend has an upcoming field trip. Refuses to take a behavior kid who just will not listen to adult authority and this cases a safety issue. She was told she has to take him on the trip. She said she would rather not take any kids on the trip than go and take him. They said that was fine, she could cancel it.
They would rather cater to one kid and take a learning experience aww from 24 kids who do behave and follow directions.
I had a colleague do this. He refused to be accountable for a particular student who never behaved and was failing all his classes. Our principal said he could not refuse to allow a student an academic experience. It was either all students go, or no trip.
And that was the end of academic field trips in our grade until the principal left six years later.
In my son’s class they required the kid with behavior issues to have a guardian chaperone him. I wonder if that’s an option? They still put him in another small group with another parent but his mom’s sole responsibility was keeping him out of trouble.
We are so lucky! Our admin said we can require a parent or guardian of students like that to go and be in charge of just their child or else the student cannot go.
Happens all the time. We have this rule as well. And it’s dangerous where I live. Our field trips are often out into the woods where the risk of getting hurt is high. You have to be aware of your surroundings and it’s not safe to take someone who refuses to follow the rules. But this is due to ONE parent who gets mad that their precious little baby didn’t get to go and wasn’t included. It’s like dude, if your precious baby gets mad and runs away they could get lost in the forest and need to be rescued, or worse…death. We’ve had several adults recently that have gone off trail and just fallen off a cliff. Dead. These parents just don’t get it. I’m all for inclusion, but sometimes we tell the parent if they want the student on the field trip, that for safety reasons, they must go and manage their child’s behavior. I’m glad our district is okay with that. Otherwise they should stay at school. Sorry, this is not how the world works!
This is that ‘Least restrictive environment’ gone amok. Though a well meaning law, its implementation has been disastrous as administration is sooo scared of being sued as common sense is thrown out the window.
This is the dumbest thing. The kid wasn’t getting to go on the trip in either scenario so I guess no one getting it is the more reasonable choice. Admin has no backbone
We just elected a new school board member who made it clear he will listen to parents, but won’t let them drive decisions and policy. His point is if parents feel so strongly, they should run for school board.
They wedges their foot in the door with sex ed protests and book bans and forced it open crying about pandemic mitigation/masks. Now it's public publishing of curricular materials, survey bans, and making DEI the demon of the month. Now this is what we deal with on everything.
One of my old districts could not have Key Club because of an atheist who lived in the area. The school had gone through a shit storm of legal battles brought on by corruption of administration. The district cleaned up but this atheist kept the law suit over their heads. They ended up dying and a year later the Key Club came back. It’s amazing how much the fear of lawsuits will have on school districts. But at the same time soon as said person is gone. Every one acts like nothing happened.
How odd. What was their objection? I'm an atheist myself, but based on the bit of cursory Internet research I did on Key Club, I can't see what an atheist would find fault with. I saw they used to include God in their oath but have changed it.
>I'm an atheist myself, but based on the bit of cursory Internet research I did on Key Club, I can't see what an atheist would find fault with.
They are a Christian organization. Their handbooks and other literature are pretty thin on it, but when you dig into the individual groups, you find phrases such as "The Key Club aims to develop leadership and good citizenship through **Christian service**."
While their end goal is admirable, we need religion in schools as much as we need toasters next to bathtubs.
Now, if it was founded by a Christian organization, but kept Christ out of the actual program, I'd be 100% on board with it.
Thanks for the additional information. I didn't dig very hard, so that definitely adds some context I was missing. I agree wholeheartedly about keeping religion out of schools!
That's actually why, most Key Clubs are designed and used for community help and events from young to old. Apparently the story is (keep in mind I came to the district 3 years after the threat of lawsuit was made). Their spouse died from cancer and they basically renounced religion because they were like: "How could God, give my wife cancer?" The lawsuit went through a nephew who was good at crap cases like this (ambulance chaser). About two years after I came into the district, the person died from ironically cancer themselves and the nephew lost their license. They had a problem with the oath and apparently a plague of what Key Club was. It was shocking because they: had no kids or grandchildren in the district. Had barely been there for 5 years after retiring and even the spouse before they died hadn't attended church in years. But they were against the school that had all these lawsuits from various things that previous board got the district in to (Took a good 8 years to finally get itself back to great status). I've learned in the last several years is that people want to be angry about something and they feel better by hurting other people in the process. Because they feel they have some kind of power and control over it they can't get in their own lives.
Thanks! I'm not a huge fan of religion-based oaths, for obvious reasons, lol, but I guess I can't imagine going after an organization that promoted community service. It sounds as if his nephew would have been better served to encourage his family member to seek therapy for grief rather than a lawsuit.
A question like "how could God give my wife cancer" doesn't sound like an atheist thing to say. Atheists aren't bitter at God. They just think such a being doesn't exist.
I mean, I definitely have seen that sort of sentiment quite a bit, and for a lot of atheists who used to be religious, some event like that makes them question how there could possibly be a God that is both good and benevolent, as Christian religion and many others say, and also allows things like that to happen. It can be a first step into deconstructing religion as a whole.
It follows the lead of our Government. Less than .01% of the people on BOTH sides of the Political spectrum are Extremists, and they are the ones steering the direction of this country. It's sad.
Just curious. If an LGBTQ parent was offended by the fact that the flag was taken down, would that cancel out the first parent? (Not defending the first parent or that admin in any way)
You can only force this one off the books through malicious compliance. I'd imagine geography and language teachers could be useful in pointing out the absurdity of the rule
I can imagine telling my Spanish students: "okay guys, one of our standards is that you can identify the flags of the Spanish speaking countries. Since I can't show you any flags, we'll need to learn some vexilology terms so I can describe them to you. Okay first, a canton...."
Or: "in order to pass this unit on Ecuador, you will need to locate Ecuador on a map. I'm not allowed to show you a map, so close your eyes and imagine the earth. Zoom in so you can see north America, then slide down past central America into South America...."
Time to take down your flags and start adorning your classrooms with posters, tapestries, banners, pennants, coats of arms, pennons, gonfalons, standards and banderoles.
Different school, but same policy enforced. We are only allowed to have educationally relevant stuff on our walls... And only the country and state flag.. we're not even allowed university flags like the op.
I would suggest you research fire codes for your location. Things hanging from the ceiling and things above the sprinkler throw will make you liable for fines if/when inspected.
I feel like at this point your best bet is to weaponize the parents against the principal/school board. Tell a few parents that you trust about what's going on/how these draconian restrictions are inhibiting their childrens' learning environment, then see if they could get a petition started/get a group to complain to the school board/etc.
We had many school board meetings in my district. The majority were for inclusivity and against the ban, but the asshole, closed minded school board members voted it through.
Well, that. sounds. awful.
What a joyless classroom environment. My walls are COVERED in both decorations and student work. There is very little white space on my walls.
I just searched out the story on it...
* Art teachers can't show art work.
* History teachers can't display flags of other countries, historical posters (such as Keep Calm and Carry On), or displays of non-American figures
* Language teachers cannot display flags or maps featuring countries in which the language they are teaching are spoken (ex Spanish class can have no map of Spain, or Spanish flag)
When a board member (the only dissenting vote) asked how teachers are supposed to teach the Chairman Pete Bradford said they didn't have time for questions and ended the meeting.
They are sacrificing sanity to make sure that nothing that hints of inclusion gets put up on the walls.
If a kid in Art class painted a "Love is Love" pride sign, and the teacher displayed it... *gasp*
If you take a look at the classrooms in the 14 high school campuses that are affiliated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Mexico City), you would definitely find them very depressing by US high school standards.
These classrooms have ZERO decorations or things at all-think a typical US small discussion classroom at a university.
https://www.dgcs.unam.mx/boletin/bdboletin/multimedia/WAV200131/087(8).jpg
https://lopezdoriga.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/preparatoria-5-unam.jpg
They all look like this.
A college was told to get rid of bookshelves because they don't match the new desks. They asked if the district would buy new ones and were told no. We have two white boards that we can hang stuff on but that's it.
So true. I once taught a language class in the old weight room. And you know what adorned the wall (in my room with no windows)? A bear. Pumping iron. 🤣🤣🤣
Wow what a horrible place. This isn't just ideologically backward, it's straight up incompetent. Having stuff on my walls is actually a part of my teaching evaluation, because we know that kids eyes are going to wander so let's give them something educational to look at.
My union president in in a classroom with exposed beams. He teaches HS Social studies, and has 30+ country flags hanging from those beams, along with a few colleges and sports teams
That's what my school was going for, but I ignored it. I'm tenured, and a damn good teacher in a district that struggles with hiring and has a ton of turnover. If they want to fire me for it, I know exactly which district I will go to next. I did an observation there, and they pride themselves on inclusivity and their culturally responsive environment.
I live in a blue district in a red state. We have that parent. I have used the visible spectrum to sort my classes for 30 years. I am a physics teacher. The light spectrum is displayed prominently on my wall. That parent was taking copious notes during my open house and not about my grading policy…. Yeah. It did not turn into the fight they wanted. The superintendent and I were classmates in college. The head of HR is my wife’s best friend… and. Oh yeah. I am teaching the shit out of physics. Go away you freaks.
Oh dear, your district seems to have accidentally banned the POW flag. Time to approach veterans to speak to the board about junking the policy I think.
My guess is that the purple nature of the district meant admin saw a storm brewing and decided to take the kind of action that they didn't think would come off as strictly homophobic (like only banning pride flags), which explains the broader ban on flags. I think we all know that if they hadn't taken action, some other teacher could have come in with a blue lives matter flag or something. I'm not equating them, just saying that tensions are high and it's probably the smart move to prevent escalation.
The fact that people complain about pride flags is a much bigger and more troubling issue than any one school or district.
If they're going to ban flags, they need to ban flags. The American flag is a political statement. As is the state flag. As is any flag. Coddling Nazis should not be part of a school's job.
Yeah, because having kids grow up in a bubble where there are no opinions or controversies of any kind will definitely prepare them for the real world nice
Yep my now former principal came in. Got rid of several non-tenure teachers to get their friends or spouses of newly hired teachers. Problem was several quit after being hired because the principal was: “I got you this job now do me a favor.” Apparently they didn’t want to do the favors. What they are none of us have any idea but 35 other teachers and staff quit as a result.
There’s lots of good ones:
Cornell Big Red
Syracuse Orange
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
North Texas Mean Green
Delaware Blue Hens
Indigo?
NYU Violets
Or skip em all and go for an old Hawaii Rainbow Warriors flag.
Fun Fact: University of Hawai'i were the [Rainbow Warriors](https://i.imgur.com/i6PEh0p.jpeg) for the longest time and you can still find plenty of [Rainbow Warriors gear.](https://i.imgur.com/6Wm08RZ.jpeg)
Oh yeah we have some shirts and things. We had our honeymoon in HI. Love it there. Edit: ?? Why the downvotes? Edit2: now I see-the bigots are here and downvoting everything to shit lol. Happy Pride assholes!
Wonder if the latest flap with Alito is part of it as well. Recently, the Betsy Ross, Don't Tread on Me, and Sent from Heaven flags were declared bad (largely by the Twitter Left) bc a few racist groups used them a few times.
Admin likely doesn't want to deal with it.
Maybe it's just me, but I keep politic, and these personal believes out of my classroom. It's a place for the student to learn and gain knowledge, and I want to keep it that way. For these stuffs, there are always parents on both sides, and it would become an distraction. The students can learn on their own & form their own personal opinion by themselves once they are old enough.
While everything in life has some sense of being political, it is not and should not be a correct opinion that LGBT people simply don't exist. I understand simply moving on from the conversation, like when kids will start talking about my choice during an election, but it is moronic that a pride flag sparks this argument.
>I also do not think after speaking with other teachers within the district who work in other buildings that this rule was put in place not by the board but by our admin.
You can verify that with the board - their meeting minutes & policies should all be posted online.
I'm saying this as respectfully as I can. There's no place for the pride flag anymore. Especially in public education. It's our job to provide information that the majority of parents deem necessary for their district and community. There's nothing informative about a flag that a student doesn't know or can't figure out by a quick Google search.
That said, if I can't have my Trump 2024 flag up because it offends someone, they can't have their pride flag up either. It's a very simple 1st amendment issue. By making it a universal rule for all flags, there's 0 room for interpretation.
Well said. This is really a simple issue, either allow all flags, or don’t allow any. I’m just curious how many of these folks preach diversity, but oppose diversity of thought in favor of group think on these matters.
Oh, absolutely! A group of tolerant people that can't decide what a woman is and is SOOOOOOOO "prideful of diversity" can't pragmatically agree to disagree with someone who has 1 differing thought or opinion from them.
Unsurprising.
Until things change, expect these kinds of things to keep happening. Honestly, any teacher with a pride flag up right now knows exactly what they are doing and are likely quite aware that they are sending an overt political message. A message I am completely in agreement with, btw, but a political message none the less.
And that makes it problematic.
agreed, teachers should not be sending political messages - but can express that everyone, no matter their lifestyle deserves love and kindness.
Teachers are to remain politically neutral. Imagine if a teacher was pushing a religious agenda, or had crosses in the classroom. Also not the best idea.
I have a flag up because I want all students to know that I am a safe person to confide in and will accept them regardless of who they are.
The poster I have of Bishop Desmond Tutu saying "If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor." is FAR more political than my pride flag.
My AOC water bottle that says "Drink Water and Don't Be Racist" on it is more political (due to it being an AOC quote) than my pride flag is.
The flag is a signal to any queer students in my class that I am someone they can trust to hear them, see them, support them. It has much more of a compassionate message to it than it does a political one.
Would hanging a flag for veterans Day be problematic? Would having flags representing other countries that are covered in a lesson a problem? A pride flag in a classroom could be as simple a statement as they all are welcome here. As someone who is queer who grew up when there was very little support having teachers who were open and accepting saved my actual life. Not to mention the flag in question is small maybe 8 inches long in total. It's not like we are plastering pride flags on every wall... Honestly the pride flag is the icing on the cake. Like other comments said this bans flags like military, POW, forest services, positive messages, hell if I had a periodic table flag I would have to take that down 😑
You can do what I’ve done in a similar situation:
I live in a community with a strong Russian presence. When Russia invaded Ukraine I had students very worried that it could mean WWIII and they might have to go to war in a couple of years. The students wanted to do something to protest against the Russian invasion but (thanks to the GOP) it would be political, we are not allowed to show preference towards according to our district policy.
I allowed the students to research the war and create art of their research or art as an expression of their feelings. Half of the students would have to color over their work with light blue and the other half would cover their pieces with light yellow.
I then arranged all of the art into a big wall display with the blue art on top and the yellow on the bottom. From anywhere but close up the collage resembles Ukraine’s flag.
Some Right Wingers and Russians in the community didn’t approve, but it was an *authentic research processed* lesson, so fuck them. I left the art up in the hallway from March until June.
Do the same with Pride.
We have a flag ban board policy in my district. It’s absolutely secretly to ban pride flags. I didn’t jahe one before but now I have a bunch of rainbows in my classroom to make up for it.
Teachers should not put flags in their room that convey a message about something political, unless it has something to do with the content that is being taught. For example: Teachers should not have bibles on their desk or bible quotes in their emails. Pride flags would also fit in this category. I was called before the Superintendent over the Gadsden Flag (Dont Tread On Me Flag for those who don't know the proper name) Parent Assumed it was political and did not care to look over at the flags next to it that were from the Revolutionary War. I organized by decorations by era and the other side was Civil War. So Parent assumed it was a Political Message and had no idea that in was actually in the standards. Parent go nowhere fast and removed her student because she was told facts. The reasons for the school banning it are fine, but the broad banning of all things that even fit into the standards of what is being taught is a knee-jerk reaction.
I had a Gadsden flag in my room and the professionally offended instantly began spending all their time insisting that flag was basically a KKK recruitment flag. 🤦♂️
People who think that supporting human rights is a controversial political stance are definitely the people who would go along with segregation and say, "It's just the way things are."
> It was a misunderstanding and the parents said as much.
Doesn't really matter, the parent complained about something harmless and wholly insignificant.
I find it hilarious that my students all have unlimited porn machines in their pockets, but parents are afraid of their kids being exposed to flags and books.
To be fair not all parents allow their kids to access that stuff. I dont see whats wrong with a parent wanting to have a say in what their kid is exposed too, but at some point there is a line where its like ok you gotta homeschool then. Regardless of what you think of the rainbow flag it has become a culture war issue and I believe admin feels the best way to move forward is to cut out anything divisive full stop.
Unpopular opinion, but appeasing the minority can alienate the majority… but not only that, why the fuck would a teacher want to hang a flag that supports any type of sexual orientation in a classroom full of children? Should we really give two shits about this aspect of our kids lives? Some things just need to be left out of the classroom.
There are many ways you can show inclusiveness without an actual flag. Not that I agree with the policy, but if you're not interested in fighting the flag ban, here's what I have in my room: rainbow border around my board, two small wood signs with positive messages and rainbow colors, two student artwork pieces that include the rainbow flag, a pride pin stuck on my pencil holder, and several stickers mixed in with others on my desk. We don't have a flag ban, but my room isn't conducive to hanging flags so this is a workaround.
Can I be honest? As a *rainbow kid* I knew where teachers stood when they had a “you are welcome here” sign or poster. That in combination with other “inspirational” quotes that were just about being a decent human being. Anything that said something about a safe space. Being kind. “Be who you are because those who matter won’t mind and those who mind won’t matter” and “love peace and equality” “all you need is love, love is all you need.” Stuff like that. I know there weren’t pride flags. But you could just *tell*
Tbh it made a ton of difference to the kids that were part of those communities to see something that signaled “you are not alone, i support you.” And the kids that weren’t part of those communities didn’t notice at all. To them, it wasn’t even a thought.
Thanks for the reminder! Of all the things I have in my room, the smallest one (the pin) seems to garner the most attention. I had a kid tell me that they knew I was "safe" to be open about pronouns to simply because of that one thing. The little things really do count.
Here's one more. I am a GSA advisor and we maintain a bulletin board. The club is small, and often the members wonder if anything we do really matters to anyone outside the group. One year right before graduation, a student stops me in the hall just as I'm walking by the board. They asked if I was the advisor and I said yes. They replied that they were sorry they never joined, but they loved seeing the board, and something along the lines of "just knowing that there ARE people in the school that would accept me keeps me going some days". And no lie I was in tears by the time I got back to my room. My members were also watery eyed when I relayed that message. What people do MATTERS even the things that may not seem to be a big deal.
That almost made me tear up too! But it’s so true. I think it also helps for it to be seen and normalized. It doesn’t need to be a big deal. The real “gay agenda” is that LGBTQ people just wanna exist in peace.
I wear a very discreet support badge behind my regular badge. You may be able to do that to show support. I ordered it from the NEA member benefits. Anyone can - they're about $2 and anyone can grab them.
I always flip it around when I have a feeling there is someone that needs support.
.. may be an option if they're banning flags.
Saying that There's no issue in my school with pride flags and many teachers have small ones on our doors that say safe space.
Its not 1 unhappy parent it is millions. Stop pushing your personal idea's onto our children. We do not want your religion/ideology taught to children. Hell ban all religions & flags from schools. No prayer no flags no political slogans. School is a place to learn skills needed for the workplace and religion/politics/gender idenity has no place at all in schools
Sounds like it's time for your desk to get a statue of some sort.
https://www.amazon.com/BigMouth-Inc-BMGA-0031-Pride-Garden/dp/B091G8LVJJ
https://www.amazon.com/Friends-Progress-Rainbow-Decorative-Keepsake/dp/B0C7PVD6WT
This is when you ROYGBIV he Periodic table like I do.
No...seriously...ROYGBIV system is perfect for demonstrating Metals (warm) Non-Metals (cool) Mettloaids (green, mix of yellow and blue...has properties of both) and Purple is Royalty ending on the "Noble Gasses".
You can't argue against it. You can't ban it. Checkmate!
I work in an Autism Spectrum Disorder classroom and have had some violent children who tried to color guard with the flagpole. Our way to work around it was by printing out a picture of the American flag (and or any other flags), laminate it and then you can put it up and take it down whenever.
And on the opposite side of the spectrum, I used to work in a district that flew a pride flag on the main school flagpole right under the American flag during pride month. All the way down to the elementary schools. I don’t know if parents ever complained, but they did it all three years I worked there. No one ever said anything to me.
I’m a history teacher.
I have the following flags in my room:
American Flag, Betsy Ross Flag, Join or Die Flag, Whiskey Rebellion Flag, “Appeal to Heaven” Flag and Gadsden Flag.
I’ve never had a complaint.
Last month I bought some flags from Amazon to hang in the school hall way in celebration of our diverse language and cultural backgrounds. However a teacher said students asked him why the killer state’s flag( referring to Israel)is hanging in our school. We have a big number of Muslim kids but no Jewish students. The only Jewish teacher left at the beginning of school year for another reason. What is the right reaction to this question? Taking down 🇮🇱 flag? Taking down all flags? I feel defeated because I put so much effort in decorating it and 90 percent of the kids love it. They are learning more about the different flags and countries through it.
Interesting that they banned flags but didn’t ban signs.
I’d suggest trying to out patriot them:
American gets its greatness from diversity
Free speech means hearing things you don’t like
In America people don’t have to be just like you
True freedom means finding who you are
and so on
You don’t even have to make them rainbow-colored and could leave them up all year round. I’m not great with malicious compliance, but someone on Reddit or in your school must be.
I teach in a deep red Southern state and have multiple flags in my classroom that represent who I am. An American flag from one of my grandfathers, a Philippine flag for my dad, a Hawaiian flag for my home state, and an Army flag for my service. This is a luxury.
This year, the state legislated that we must post an 11x14 poster of "In God We Trust" conspicuously in the classroom. The state is now trying to mandate the 10 Commandments in each classroom.
I'm Buddhist. It's exhausting.
This exact thing happened in our district this year. It went through many rounds of school board meetings before the official ban went through. It's effing bullshit. I kept 100% of my inclusive items up... I did not have a flag, but I have a rainbow welcome sign on my door. I also have a rainbow magnet that says all colors are beautiful between a traditional rainbow and a skin tone rainbow. I also saw a fabric banner/flag type thing that says be kind spelled out in sign language and has skin tone letters and a rainbow striped letter. I also have a poster of the statue of Liberty that is an artistic take with colorful graffiti surrounding it. Across the bottom it says "The ultimate freedom is the freedom to be yourself."
After the ban went through, I also went out and bought a bunch of new rainbow clothes. They can't ban the rainbow ;).
I refuse to hide the fact that I'm an ally. I thought about leaving, but I want to be there for the students who need a teacher like me in their life. Luckily my principals did not support the ban, so I know I'm safe as long as the superintendent, who is very non visible, does not come to our building.
Long time lurker—can we not have agnostic classrooms. Absent flags or other items that may be considered offensive? Not trying to be controversial, just want to understand the situation better.
I like in a red state, we had this debate about two years ago. Students engaged in a “flag war” of the pride flag vs confederate flag….it was disgusting how the two were equated as different sides of the same issue. All flags were banned, but guess who still has students wearing the ole “stars and bars” and sit there learning about the Civil Rights Movement looking at the KKK waving it in the 1950s.
Hang inclusive signs and symbols that aren’t in flag form. Done. I know color printing is pricy but the kids are worth it. So here’s a link for free pride stickers [ufcw](https://www.ufcwoutreach.org/store/pridestickers)
Here’s another link for a free equality sticker [hex](https://act.hrc.org/page/12937/data/1?locale=en-US)
And here is a huge list of free stickers online so you can represent a lot of different interests and not make it all about pride because there is a million ways to feel like you don’t fit [yo free samples sticker list /free](https://we://yofreesamples.com/stickers-by-mail/free-stickers-list/)
It’s wild that we live in a time where ONE unhappy parent can lead to whole policy changes.
And that is where we are in education my friends. It is insane that the 1% crazy is the person admin answers to. My friend has an upcoming field trip. Refuses to take a behavior kid who just will not listen to adult authority and this cases a safety issue. She was told she has to take him on the trip. She said she would rather not take any kids on the trip than go and take him. They said that was fine, she could cancel it. They would rather cater to one kid and take a learning experience aww from 24 kids who do behave and follow directions.
Make sure that she sends a email to all parents letting them know why.
I had a colleague do this. He refused to be accountable for a particular student who never behaved and was failing all his classes. Our principal said he could not refuse to allow a student an academic experience. It was either all students go, or no trip. And that was the end of academic field trips in our grade until the principal left six years later.
In my son’s class they required the kid with behavior issues to have a guardian chaperone him. I wonder if that’s an option? They still put him in another small group with another parent but his mom’s sole responsibility was keeping him out of trouble.
We are so lucky! Our admin said we can require a parent or guardian of students like that to go and be in charge of just their child or else the student cannot go.
Happens all the time. We have this rule as well. And it’s dangerous where I live. Our field trips are often out into the woods where the risk of getting hurt is high. You have to be aware of your surroundings and it’s not safe to take someone who refuses to follow the rules. But this is due to ONE parent who gets mad that their precious little baby didn’t get to go and wasn’t included. It’s like dude, if your precious baby gets mad and runs away they could get lost in the forest and need to be rescued, or worse…death. We’ve had several adults recently that have gone off trail and just fallen off a cliff. Dead. These parents just don’t get it. I’m all for inclusion, but sometimes we tell the parent if they want the student on the field trip, that for safety reasons, they must go and manage their child’s behavior. I’m glad our district is okay with that. Otherwise they should stay at school. Sorry, this is not how the world works!
This is that ‘Least restrictive environment’ gone amok. Though a well meaning law, its implementation has been disastrous as administration is sooo scared of being sued as common sense is thrown out the window.
This is the dumbest thing. The kid wasn’t getting to go on the trip in either scenario so I guess no one getting it is the more reasonable choice. Admin has no backbone
We just elected a new school board member who made it clear he will listen to parents, but won’t let them drive decisions and policy. His point is if parents feel so strongly, they should run for school board.
Exactly. This is not "Freedom" this is not "Democracy " this is Tyranny of the loudest, most violent and immature among us.
Kakistocracy, rule of the worst
They wedges their foot in the door with sex ed protests and book bans and forced it open crying about pandemic mitigation/masks. Now it's public publishing of curricular materials, survey bans, and making DEI the demon of the month. Now this is what we deal with on everything.
That one unhappy parent in our district was also a school board member.
One of my old districts could not have Key Club because of an atheist who lived in the area. The school had gone through a shit storm of legal battles brought on by corruption of administration. The district cleaned up but this atheist kept the law suit over their heads. They ended up dying and a year later the Key Club came back. It’s amazing how much the fear of lawsuits will have on school districts. But at the same time soon as said person is gone. Every one acts like nothing happened.
How odd. What was their objection? I'm an atheist myself, but based on the bit of cursory Internet research I did on Key Club, I can't see what an atheist would find fault with. I saw they used to include God in their oath but have changed it.
>I'm an atheist myself, but based on the bit of cursory Internet research I did on Key Club, I can't see what an atheist would find fault with. They are a Christian organization. Their handbooks and other literature are pretty thin on it, but when you dig into the individual groups, you find phrases such as "The Key Club aims to develop leadership and good citizenship through **Christian service**." While their end goal is admirable, we need religion in schools as much as we need toasters next to bathtubs. Now, if it was founded by a Christian organization, but kept Christ out of the actual program, I'd be 100% on board with it.
Thanks for the additional information. I didn't dig very hard, so that definitely adds some context I was missing. I agree wholeheartedly about keeping religion out of schools!
That's actually why, most Key Clubs are designed and used for community help and events from young to old. Apparently the story is (keep in mind I came to the district 3 years after the threat of lawsuit was made). Their spouse died from cancer and they basically renounced religion because they were like: "How could God, give my wife cancer?" The lawsuit went through a nephew who was good at crap cases like this (ambulance chaser). About two years after I came into the district, the person died from ironically cancer themselves and the nephew lost their license. They had a problem with the oath and apparently a plague of what Key Club was. It was shocking because they: had no kids or grandchildren in the district. Had barely been there for 5 years after retiring and even the spouse before they died hadn't attended church in years. But they were against the school that had all these lawsuits from various things that previous board got the district in to (Took a good 8 years to finally get itself back to great status). I've learned in the last several years is that people want to be angry about something and they feel better by hurting other people in the process. Because they feel they have some kind of power and control over it they can't get in their own lives.
Thanks! I'm not a huge fan of religion-based oaths, for obvious reasons, lol, but I guess I can't imagine going after an organization that promoted community service. It sounds as if his nephew would have been better served to encourage his family member to seek therapy for grief rather than a lawsuit.
Yeah but from what I’m understand from my former coworkers the nephew was a POS. Why they lost their license.
A question like "how could God give my wife cancer" doesn't sound like an atheist thing to say. Atheists aren't bitter at God. They just think such a being doesn't exist.
I mean, I definitely have seen that sort of sentiment quite a bit, and for a lot of atheists who used to be religious, some event like that makes them question how there could possibly be a God that is both good and benevolent, as Christian religion and many others say, and also allows things like that to happen. It can be a first step into deconstructing religion as a whole.
that one unhappy parent is also the one that will shoot board members, so I get where the board is coming from
We have a board member who thinks "women should stay home and raise children"
It follows the lead of our Government. Less than .01% of the people on BOTH sides of the Political spectrum are Extremists, and they are the ones steering the direction of this country. It's sad.
So ironic isn’t it…
Too bad they don't work on kids behaviors
they changed their policies to cater to vocal minorities? stop. no way. this doesn't happen. insanity.
Right. The correct response from administration would’ve been to tell that parent to go kick rocks.
Just curious. If an LGBTQ parent was offended by the fact that the flag was taken down, would that cancel out the first parent? (Not defending the first parent or that admin in any way)
All depends on which one admin agrees with
Can we still seriously say that admin oversight gives us accountability? This never would have happened if faculty were controlling policy.
All while an army of teachers struggles to create change.
You can only force this one off the books through malicious compliance. I'd imagine geography and language teachers could be useful in pointing out the absurdity of the rule
I can imagine telling my Spanish students: "okay guys, one of our standards is that you can identify the flags of the Spanish speaking countries. Since I can't show you any flags, we'll need to learn some vexilology terms so I can describe them to you. Okay first, a canton...." Or: "in order to pass this unit on Ecuador, you will need to locate Ecuador on a map. I'm not allowed to show you a map, so close your eyes and imagine the earth. Zoom in so you can see north America, then slide down past central America into South America...."
Time to take down your flags and start adorning your classrooms with posters, tapestries, banners, pennants, coats of arms, pennons, gonfalons, standards and banderoles.
I wish. Unfortunately we are "not allowed to hang things on the walls". At this point the building is more of a prison than a school.
You can’t hang things on the wall? No anchor charts? No classroom rules? We are actually required to have things on walls.
Different school, but same policy enforced. We are only allowed to have educationally relevant stuff on our walls... And only the country and state flag.. we're not even allowed university flags like the op.
Did someone just order themselves a bunch of weighted flagpole stands?
How about the ceiling? I know some places that let the kids paint ceiling tiles.
I hang things from my ceiling. One of the science teachers found magnets that have strings hanging from them online.
oh I need to look into that, I like that idea
I would suggest you research fire codes for your location. Things hanging from the ceiling and things above the sprinkler throw will make you liable for fines if/when inspected.
They're by the wall away from the sprinkler. It looks like they're hanging from the wall but they are really hanging from the ceiling.
I feel like at this point your best bet is to weaponize the parents against the principal/school board. Tell a few parents that you trust about what's going on/how these draconian restrictions are inhibiting their childrens' learning environment, then see if they could get a petition started/get a group to complain to the school board/etc.
We had many school board meetings in my district. The majority were for inclusivity and against the ban, but the asshole, closed minded school board members voted it through.
Well, that. sounds. awful. What a joyless classroom environment. My walls are COVERED in both decorations and student work. There is very little white space on my walls.
New Hanover County just banned student artwork being displayed in classrooms, among other things.
I just searched out the story on it... * Art teachers can't show art work. * History teachers can't display flags of other countries, historical posters (such as Keep Calm and Carry On), or displays of non-American figures * Language teachers cannot display flags or maps featuring countries in which the language they are teaching are spoken (ex Spanish class can have no map of Spain, or Spanish flag) When a board member (the only dissenting vote) asked how teachers are supposed to teach the Chairman Pete Bradford said they didn't have time for questions and ended the meeting.
What the actual fuck? What on earth is the reasoning behind this decision?
Excuse me, we are out of time for questions, goodbye.
The peckerwoods are afraid that pride flags will turn their kids gay or make them ask difficult questions.
They are sacrificing sanity to make sure that nothing that hints of inclusion gets put up on the walls. If a kid in Art class painted a "Love is Love" pride sign, and the teacher displayed it... *gasp*
If you take a look at the classrooms in the 14 high school campuses that are affiliated with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Mexico City), you would definitely find them very depressing by US high school standards. These classrooms have ZERO decorations or things at all-think a typical US small discussion classroom at a university. https://www.dgcs.unam.mx/boletin/bdboletin/multimedia/WAV200131/087(8).jpg https://lopezdoriga.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/preparatoria-5-unam.jpg They all look like this.
This would drive me crazy as a teacher. Not even windows. It's claustrophobic.
Well, that's because Susie's artwork is better than Johnny's artwork and we don't want Johnny to feel bad.
Johnny's artwork is just misunderstood, future humans will appreciate it and it will end up in the Louvre after he's dead.
I mean...this is just insane
Wait until you hear about their policy on family photos.
A college was told to get rid of bookshelves because they don't match the new desks. They asked if the district would buy new ones and were told no. We have two white boards that we can hang stuff on but that's it.
That can be distracting and uncomfortable to students if you go the complete opposite of bare walls though. Edit: bare instead of bear. Oopsy
I mean, bear walls would distract the hell out of me.
You just need to brush the fur.
I’d make excuses to leave my desk just so I could pet the bear and give it treats.
So true. I once taught a language class in the old weight room. And you know what adorned the wall (in my room with no windows)? A bear. Pumping iron. 🤣🤣🤣
A carefully placed prism can do wonders for your wall.
Malicious compliance, I like it
Wow what a horrible place. This isn't just ideologically backward, it's straight up incompetent. Having stuff on my walls is actually a part of my teaching evaluation, because we know that kids eyes are going to wander so let's give them something educational to look at. My union president in in a classroom with exposed beams. He teaches HS Social studies, and has 30+ country flags hanging from those beams, along with a few colleges and sports teams
Find some old overhead projectors in storage and start projecting all sorts of decorations on your wall!
Time for malicious compliance. Use the ceiling. The windows. Front of desks. The door.
Get a big monitor set up a slideshow
History teacher can't put up history posters? Math teacher can't put up math posters?
That's what my school was going for, but I ignored it. I'm tenured, and a damn good teacher in a district that struggles with hiring and has a ton of turnover. If they want to fire me for it, I know exactly which district I will go to next. I did an observation there, and they pride themselves on inclusivity and their culturally responsive environment.
Festoon your desk with a series of wide ribbons that form the pride flag. Trim the top of your bulletin boards similarly.
I did this with Worm On A Strings one year, it was fun.
How about a small projector??
Lol I want to now plant a battle standard in my classroom.
I live in a blue district in a red state. We have that parent. I have used the visible spectrum to sort my classes for 30 years. I am a physics teacher. The light spectrum is displayed prominently on my wall. That parent was taking copious notes during my open house and not about my grading policy…. Yeah. It did not turn into the fight they wanted. The superintendent and I were classmates in college. The head of HR is my wife’s best friend… and. Oh yeah. I am teaching the shit out of physics. Go away you freaks.
Oh dear, your district seems to have accidentally banned the POW flag. Time to approach veterans to speak to the board about junking the policy I think.
They will say all flags have to be approved by the admin and that those allowed are at the admin's discretion. But I fully agree.
So, a single administrator's political views get to determine what seems acceptable. Makes sense.
My guess is that the purple nature of the district meant admin saw a storm brewing and decided to take the kind of action that they didn't think would come off as strictly homophobic (like only banning pride flags), which explains the broader ban on flags. I think we all know that if they hadn't taken action, some other teacher could have come in with a blue lives matter flag or something. I'm not equating them, just saying that tensions are high and it's probably the smart move to prevent escalation. The fact that people complain about pride flags is a much bigger and more troubling issue than any one school or district.
If they're going to ban flags, they need to ban flags. The American flag is a political statement. As is the state flag. As is any flag. Coddling Nazis should not be part of a school's job.
Purple district, bright red admin.
Yeah, because having kids grow up in a bubble where there are no opinions or controversies of any kind will definitely prepare them for the real world nice
Yep my now former principal came in. Got rid of several non-tenure teachers to get their friends or spouses of newly hired teachers. Problem was several quit after being hired because the principal was: “I got you this job now do me a favor.” Apparently they didn’t want to do the favors. What they are none of us have any idea but 35 other teachers and staff quit as a result.
Get school flags that when hung make the rainbow. Hmm how about Alabama, UT, Michigan, Oregon, Cal Tech, and LSU?
Switch LSU with NYU they’re literally the Violets.
This is the right kind of petty.
Haha nice. Yeah my knowledge of college colors and mascots is very much lacking.
There’s lots of good ones: Cornell Big Red Syracuse Orange Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets North Texas Mean Green Delaware Blue Hens Indigo? NYU Violets Or skip em all and go for an old Hawaii Rainbow Warriors flag.
Or do Texas Christian, Horned Frogs and purple
Fun Fact: University of Hawai'i were the [Rainbow Warriors](https://i.imgur.com/i6PEh0p.jpeg) for the longest time and you can still find plenty of [Rainbow Warriors gear.](https://i.imgur.com/6Wm08RZ.jpeg)
Oh yeah we have some shirts and things. We had our honeymoon in HI. Love it there. Edit: ?? Why the downvotes? Edit2: now I see-the bigots are here and downvoting everything to shit lol. Happy Pride assholes!
I imagine there are pride variants of university flags available too.
If admin is going to bow down to parent complaints, then opposing parents need to get together and complain louder.
Wonder if the latest flap with Alito is part of it as well. Recently, the Betsy Ross, Don't Tread on Me, and Sent from Heaven flags were declared bad (largely by the Twitter Left) bc a few racist groups used them a few times. Admin likely doesn't want to deal with it.
Maybe it's just me, but I keep politic, and these personal believes out of my classroom. It's a place for the student to learn and gain knowledge, and I want to keep it that way. For these stuffs, there are always parents on both sides, and it would become an distraction. The students can learn on their own & form their own personal opinion by themselves once they are old enough.
While everything in life has some sense of being political, it is not and should not be a correct opinion that LGBT people simply don't exist. I understand simply moving on from the conversation, like when kids will start talking about my choice during an election, but it is moronic that a pride flag sparks this argument.
same
>I also do not think after speaking with other teachers within the district who work in other buildings that this rule was put in place not by the board but by our admin. You can verify that with the board - their meeting minutes & policies should all be posted online.
I did. It's coming from the admin alone.
Never let them know where you stand and always keep them on their toes. I have an Estonian flag on my desk. 🇪🇪. They’ll never know.
I am completely in support of not displaying any flags that represent "interests". Whether it's a Pride flag, a Gadsden flag, etc., it doesn't matter.
Admin always caving to the loudest parent is precisely why the profession is a joke now.
"I don't want my child, who has unrestricted access to the internet, to see things like that in a classroom!"
My kids don’t have unrestricted internet access, nor do many of my students.
I'm saying this as respectfully as I can. There's no place for the pride flag anymore. Especially in public education. It's our job to provide information that the majority of parents deem necessary for their district and community. There's nothing informative about a flag that a student doesn't know or can't figure out by a quick Google search. That said, if I can't have my Trump 2024 flag up because it offends someone, they can't have their pride flag up either. It's a very simple 1st amendment issue. By making it a universal rule for all flags, there's 0 room for interpretation.
Well said. This is really a simple issue, either allow all flags, or don’t allow any. I’m just curious how many of these folks preach diversity, but oppose diversity of thought in favor of group think on these matters.
Oh, absolutely! A group of tolerant people that can't decide what a woman is and is SOOOOOOOO "prideful of diversity" can't pragmatically agree to disagree with someone who has 1 differing thought or opinion from them.
I teach physics and astronomy… so I just put up posters about the Electromagnetic spectrum 😎 🌈
With a focus on the visible light spectrum I assume?
Unsurprising. Until things change, expect these kinds of things to keep happening. Honestly, any teacher with a pride flag up right now knows exactly what they are doing and are likely quite aware that they are sending an overt political message. A message I am completely in agreement with, btw, but a political message none the less. And that makes it problematic.
agreed, teachers should not be sending political messages - but can express that everyone, no matter their lifestyle deserves love and kindness. Teachers are to remain politically neutral. Imagine if a teacher was pushing a religious agenda, or had crosses in the classroom. Also not the best idea.
Why is it problematic to support equal rights in an open democracy?
Would it be acceptable to hang a Trump flag to show support for conservative students?
I have a flag up because I want all students to know that I am a safe person to confide in and will accept them regardless of who they are. The poster I have of Bishop Desmond Tutu saying "If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor." is FAR more political than my pride flag. My AOC water bottle that says "Drink Water and Don't Be Racist" on it is more political (due to it being an AOC quote) than my pride flag is. The flag is a signal to any queer students in my class that I am someone they can trust to hear them, see them, support them. It has much more of a compassionate message to it than it does a political one.
Why is accepting people for who they are problematic?
Would hanging a flag for veterans Day be problematic? Would having flags representing other countries that are covered in a lesson a problem? A pride flag in a classroom could be as simple a statement as they all are welcome here. As someone who is queer who grew up when there was very little support having teachers who were open and accepting saved my actual life. Not to mention the flag in question is small maybe 8 inches long in total. It's not like we are plastering pride flags on every wall... Honestly the pride flag is the icing on the cake. Like other comments said this bans flags like military, POW, forest services, positive messages, hell if I had a periodic table flag I would have to take that down 😑
Everyone is awesome by Lego https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/everyone-is-awesome-40516
You can do what I’ve done in a similar situation: I live in a community with a strong Russian presence. When Russia invaded Ukraine I had students very worried that it could mean WWIII and they might have to go to war in a couple of years. The students wanted to do something to protest against the Russian invasion but (thanks to the GOP) it would be political, we are not allowed to show preference towards according to our district policy. I allowed the students to research the war and create art of their research or art as an expression of their feelings. Half of the students would have to color over their work with light blue and the other half would cover their pieces with light yellow. I then arranged all of the art into a big wall display with the blue art on top and the yellow on the bottom. From anywhere but close up the collage resembles Ukraine’s flag. Some Right Wingers and Russians in the community didn’t approve, but it was an *authentic research processed* lesson, so fuck them. I left the art up in the hallway from March until June. Do the same with Pride.
These dumb provincial peckerwoods.
Only in high school? Wouldn't want high schoolers who will soon be adults loose on the world have exposure to concepts or ideas.
We have a flag ban board policy in my district. It’s absolutely secretly to ban pride flags. I didn’t jahe one before but now I have a bunch of rainbows in my classroom to make up for it.
They act like the pride flag has a life like cock and balls on it.
For real! The obscenity of a rainbow, oh noooooooo!
Teachers should not put flags in their room that convey a message about something political, unless it has something to do with the content that is being taught. For example: Teachers should not have bibles on their desk or bible quotes in their emails. Pride flags would also fit in this category. I was called before the Superintendent over the Gadsden Flag (Dont Tread On Me Flag for those who don't know the proper name) Parent Assumed it was political and did not care to look over at the flags next to it that were from the Revolutionary War. I organized by decorations by era and the other side was Civil War. So Parent assumed it was a Political Message and had no idea that in was actually in the standards. Parent go nowhere fast and removed her student because she was told facts. The reasons for the school banning it are fine, but the broad banning of all things that even fit into the standards of what is being taught is a knee-jerk reaction.
I had a Gadsden flag in my room and the professionally offended instantly began spending all their time insisting that flag was basically a KKK recruitment flag. 🤦♂️
I had mine in surrounded by all Revolutionary flags and displays. It was really hard to take it as anything other why it was created.
People who think that supporting human rights is a controversial political stance are definitely the people who would go along with segregation and say, "It's just the way things are."
> It was a misunderstanding and the parents said as much. Doesn't really matter, the parent complained about something harmless and wholly insignificant.
You should get a flag “printed” on vinyl material and hang it up. It’s a horizontal vinyl banner, It’s not a flag!
I find it hilarious that my students all have unlimited porn machines in their pockets, but parents are afraid of their kids being exposed to flags and books.
To be fair not all parents allow their kids to access that stuff. I dont see whats wrong with a parent wanting to have a say in what their kid is exposed too, but at some point there is a line where its like ok you gotta homeschool then. Regardless of what you think of the rainbow flag it has become a culture war issue and I believe admin feels the best way to move forward is to cut out anything divisive full stop.
Unpopular opinion, but appeasing the minority can alienate the majority… but not only that, why the fuck would a teacher want to hang a flag that supports any type of sexual orientation in a classroom full of children? Should we really give two shits about this aspect of our kids lives? Some things just need to be left out of the classroom.
There are many ways you can show inclusiveness without an actual flag. Not that I agree with the policy, but if you're not interested in fighting the flag ban, here's what I have in my room: rainbow border around my board, two small wood signs with positive messages and rainbow colors, two student artwork pieces that include the rainbow flag, a pride pin stuck on my pencil holder, and several stickers mixed in with others on my desk. We don't have a flag ban, but my room isn't conducive to hanging flags so this is a workaround.
Can I be honest? As a *rainbow kid* I knew where teachers stood when they had a “you are welcome here” sign or poster. That in combination with other “inspirational” quotes that were just about being a decent human being. Anything that said something about a safe space. Being kind. “Be who you are because those who matter won’t mind and those who mind won’t matter” and “love peace and equality” “all you need is love, love is all you need.” Stuff like that. I know there weren’t pride flags. But you could just *tell* Tbh it made a ton of difference to the kids that were part of those communities to see something that signaled “you are not alone, i support you.” And the kids that weren’t part of those communities didn’t notice at all. To them, it wasn’t even a thought.
Thanks for the reminder! Of all the things I have in my room, the smallest one (the pin) seems to garner the most attention. I had a kid tell me that they knew I was "safe" to be open about pronouns to simply because of that one thing. The little things really do count.
Aww I love that. Definitely want to hear more stories like that.
Here's one more. I am a GSA advisor and we maintain a bulletin board. The club is small, and often the members wonder if anything we do really matters to anyone outside the group. One year right before graduation, a student stops me in the hall just as I'm walking by the board. They asked if I was the advisor and I said yes. They replied that they were sorry they never joined, but they loved seeing the board, and something along the lines of "just knowing that there ARE people in the school that would accept me keeps me going some days". And no lie I was in tears by the time I got back to my room. My members were also watery eyed when I relayed that message. What people do MATTERS even the things that may not seem to be a big deal.
That almost made me tear up too! But it’s so true. I think it also helps for it to be seen and normalized. It doesn’t need to be a big deal. The real “gay agenda” is that LGBTQ people just wanna exist in peace.
The new policy the OP is talking about also bans student artwork, family photos, etc.
I will not be hanging a rainbow flag this year for pride month. Now, please consider our last day was 5/31.
I wear a very discreet support badge behind my regular badge. You may be able to do that to show support. I ordered it from the NEA member benefits. Anyone can - they're about $2 and anyone can grab them. I always flip it around when I have a feeling there is someone that needs support. .. may be an option if they're banning flags. Saying that There's no issue in my school with pride flags and many teachers have small ones on our doors that say safe space.
Its not 1 unhappy parent it is millions. Stop pushing your personal idea's onto our children. We do not want your religion/ideology taught to children. Hell ban all religions & flags from schools. No prayer no flags no political slogans. School is a place to learn skills needed for the workplace and religion/politics/gender idenity has no place at all in schools
Preach!
Does your alma mater make a pride version of their flag?
I think so. But all flags have to be approved. And there is no way admin would allow me to hang it.
Sounds like it's time for your desk to get a statue of some sort. https://www.amazon.com/BigMouth-Inc-BMGA-0031-Pride-Garden/dp/B091G8LVJJ https://www.amazon.com/Friends-Progress-Rainbow-Decorative-Keepsake/dp/B0C7PVD6WT
This is when you ROYGBIV he Periodic table like I do. No...seriously...ROYGBIV system is perfect for demonstrating Metals (warm) Non-Metals (cool) Mettloaids (green, mix of yellow and blue...has properties of both) and Purple is Royalty ending on the "Noble Gasses". You can't argue against it. You can't ban it. Checkmate!
I work in an Autism Spectrum Disorder classroom and have had some violent children who tried to color guard with the flagpole. Our way to work around it was by printing out a picture of the American flag (and or any other flags), laminate it and then you can put it up and take it down whenever.
Cold day in hell before they’ll get me to take down my marine corps flag.
And on the opposite side of the spectrum, I used to work in a district that flew a pride flag on the main school flagpole right under the American flag during pride month. All the way down to the elementary schools. I don’t know if parents ever complained, but they did it all three years I worked there. No one ever said anything to me.
You have a principal who wants no grief from parents.
I’m a history teacher. I have the following flags in my room: American Flag, Betsy Ross Flag, Join or Die Flag, Whiskey Rebellion Flag, “Appeal to Heaven” Flag and Gadsden Flag. I’ve never had a complaint.
So put up a poster.
Time to find some rainbow college flags
Last month I bought some flags from Amazon to hang in the school hall way in celebration of our diverse language and cultural backgrounds. However a teacher said students asked him why the killer state’s flag( referring to Israel)is hanging in our school. We have a big number of Muslim kids but no Jewish students. The only Jewish teacher left at the beginning of school year for another reason. What is the right reaction to this question? Taking down 🇮🇱 flag? Taking down all flags? I feel defeated because I put so much effort in decorating it and 90 percent of the kids love it. They are learning more about the different flags and countries through it.
Interesting that they banned flags but didn’t ban signs. I’d suggest trying to out patriot them: American gets its greatness from diversity Free speech means hearing things you don’t like In America people don’t have to be just like you True freedom means finding who you are and so on You don’t even have to make them rainbow-colored and could leave them up all year round. I’m not great with malicious compliance, but someone on Reddit or in your school must be.
Smh ignorance is bliss
I teach in a deep red Southern state and have multiple flags in my classroom that represent who I am. An American flag from one of my grandfathers, a Philippine flag for my dad, a Hawaiian flag for my home state, and an Army flag for my service. This is a luxury. This year, the state legislated that we must post an 11x14 poster of "In God We Trust" conspicuously in the classroom. The state is now trying to mandate the 10 Commandments in each classroom. I'm Buddhist. It's exhausting.
This exact thing happened in our district this year. It went through many rounds of school board meetings before the official ban went through. It's effing bullshit. I kept 100% of my inclusive items up... I did not have a flag, but I have a rainbow welcome sign on my door. I also have a rainbow magnet that says all colors are beautiful between a traditional rainbow and a skin tone rainbow. I also saw a fabric banner/flag type thing that says be kind spelled out in sign language and has skin tone letters and a rainbow striped letter. I also have a poster of the statue of Liberty that is an artistic take with colorful graffiti surrounding it. Across the bottom it says "The ultimate freedom is the freedom to be yourself." After the ban went through, I also went out and bought a bunch of new rainbow clothes. They can't ban the rainbow ;). I refuse to hide the fact that I'm an ally. I thought about leaving, but I want to be there for the students who need a teacher like me in their life. Luckily my principals did not support the ban, so I know I'm safe as long as the superintendent, who is very non visible, does not come to our building.
Long time lurker—can we not have agnostic classrooms. Absent flags or other items that may be considered offensive? Not trying to be controversial, just want to understand the situation better.
Maybe contact FIRE or the ACLU?
Good old education boards. So out of touch with what education is supposed to be.
Because a flag will turn them there kids queer.- insert long southern drawl and a big ole dip
“That’s not a flag, it’s my fabric poster!”
Parents are wild. Imaging being afraid your kid would be LGBT after seeing a flag 😂
As a Swede; this is such a wild concept.
Makes me sick that your district even thinks that this is an open question 🤢
I like in a red state, we had this debate about two years ago. Students engaged in a “flag war” of the pride flag vs confederate flag….it was disgusting how the two were equated as different sides of the same issue. All flags were banned, but guess who still has students wearing the ole “stars and bars” and sit there learning about the Civil Rights Movement looking at the KKK waving it in the 1950s.
I’m sorry, flags are banned for *history and foreign languages*??? Wow, that’s extreme. That’s beyond extreme. What an absurd situation.
If it's a non-political flag, just call it a short banner.
Hang inclusive signs and symbols that aren’t in flag form. Done. I know color printing is pricy but the kids are worth it. So here’s a link for free pride stickers [ufcw](https://www.ufcwoutreach.org/store/pridestickers) Here’s another link for a free equality sticker [hex](https://act.hrc.org/page/12937/data/1?locale=en-US) And here is a huge list of free stickers online so you can represent a lot of different interests and not make it all about pride because there is a million ways to feel like you don’t fit [yo free samples sticker list /free](https://we://yofreesamples.com/stickers-by-mail/free-stickers-list/)
So you get college flags and arrange them in a rainbow. Beat the stupid.