An ACLU attorney said the move appeared to be a ‘targeted attack’ on certain viewpoints
Wisconsin schools voted for banning all LGBT pride and Black Lives Matter flags in its classrooms. The board claimed they were political messages.
According to Fox 6, superintendent Stephen Plum explained that the vote, which took place last Tuesday, meant that the teachers and administration of Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine School district would “not have political flags or religious messaging in their classroom or on their person.”
The board specifically voted to keep in place a code that prohibits school employees from using their position to support partisan politics or religious views, as well as propaganda, for personal, non-monetary, and monetary gains.
Superintendent Plum says that this policy is interpreted by the Wisconsin school district as meaning that teachers are prohibited from displaying political and religious messages in classrooms, including ones such as gay pride, BLM, MAGA or “We Back the Badge” flags and signs. In email signatures, it also forbids preferred pronouns.
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After a variety of community members and students objected, the vote was taken. They argued that flags signaled that school is safe for students and that there was no ban on such messages. “setting students up for academic and society-based failure and affecting the community.”
A Change.org petition was also started by two students from the district ahead of the vote. The petition called for the repeal of the policy and received over 13,000 signatures.
Christine Donahoe of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin also condemned the policy. She argued that the policy looks too similar to “targeted attacks at specific viewpoints, like LGBT communities or welcome and safe spaces to students of color.”
