A Wisconsin school district held firm against protesters, upholding a ban on displaying LGBTQ or Black Lives Matter flags in classrooms or using preferred pronouns in school-related emails.
In the face of opposition from numerous speakers Tuesday night at a school board hearing, the board retained its position.
“We live in a world where politics are highlighted, and it puts people in uncomfortable positions,” Kettle Moraine School District Superintendent Stephen Plum stated.
In late July, Plum said legal analysis had shown the policy of the district did indeed prohibit political or religious messaging, as well as the use of one’s pronouns, in classrooms, staff emails and signatures, USA Today reported.
“The prohibition is based on Kettle Moraine School District’s decade-old policy that bans ‘partisan politics, sectarian religious views, or selfish propaganda,’” CNN noted.
Kelly Brown, a member of the school board, said 80% of emails and phone calls she received agreed with the district’s policy. “I’m good with the decision,” she added.
The Kettle Moraine school district operates 10 schools; six of them have been “designated as Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education,” the district’s website enthused. 3,570 students comprise the student body of the district.
The district’s High School of Health Sciences was rated the top high school in the state in U.S. World & News Report’s annual rankings.
The Kettle Moraine mascot is a laser beam.
Earlier this month, Tim Michels, co-owner of Michels Corp. construction company, whom former President Donald Trump endorsed, won the primary to become the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate. In mid-June, he told the Associated Press that he believed “marriage should be between a man and a woman.”
Michels’ opponent, incumbent Democratic Governor Tony Evers, became the first Wisconsin governor to raise a rainbow flag over the state Capitol in 2019.
“I think people of all sexual orientations would rather not have the government call them non-essential, close businesses, schools and churches and make bad decisions that cause the price of gas to approach $5 a gallon,” Michels reacted. “Tony Evers is more interested in flags than he is in solving any of the problems of his creation.”
A Marquette Law School Poll released this week showed Evers clinging to a tiny lead over Michels, garnering 45% of the vote while Michels gathered 43%.