MERIDIAN, Idaho — Could the West Ada School District change its classroom poster policy? Discussions about the policy that made headlines last month continued after dozens of parents, teachers, and students filled the room and gave emotional testimony at Monday night’s board of trustees meeting.
Dozens of parents and students spoke in support of changing the district’s classroom poster policies.
“Posters that foster inclusion based on race, color, national origin, religion or any of the other federally protected classes ought to be required in every classroom,” said a West Ada parent.
The policy was brought to light after the district asked middle school teacher Sarah Inama to take down these signs.
“Policy 401.2 has become a distraction to our learning environment at best,” said Colby, a Renaissance High School student.
Inama herself took to the stand to clarify she wants to abide by the rule of not hanging political posters and that she put the signs back up because she says there is nothing political about a sign that represents her students.
“What is the political opinion? I still have not been told that. For an opinion to be an opinion, it’s that people don’t agree on something,” said Inama.
Before the meeting even began, members of the community and West Ada Education Association rallied at the district.
“I’m here to show my students that I care. Inclusion - even on our walls - just [lets] a student know that ‘hey if you look up, you can see you’re represented in all of our classrooms’,” said Rebecca, a WASD teacher.
Among the dozens in support of the ‘Everyone is Welcome Here’ poster, a few people supported the district's stance that these posters should be removed.
“I appreciate the fact that the district took the time to try and navigate the difficulty and appreciate the message while recognizing that the imagery and iconography could be problematic,” said a West Ada parent.
In response, board member Rene Ozuna shared that she does support these posters and their inclusive message being in classrooms. Board member Dave Binetti said he felt that everything was done right over the last few weeks, including the administration's decision to ask for them to be taken down.
After the public shared testimony and board members gave their varying opinions on the current policy, they entered into a work session where they discussed possible changes with the district admin. Nothing was officially changed or voted on during the meeting, but they anticipate revisiting this discussion.
