All Prejudice, No Pride
Photo from Pexels by Markus Spiske
Bella Orozco
Summer is a time for school boards to get together and solidify decisions for the upcoming school year. The Hamilton School District saw some changes as well as many others. One of the most prominent changes was within the Kettle Moraine School District (KMSD). Their decision to ban the use of pronouns in email signatures, political flags, and religious messages in classrooms reached national audiences and caused mixed reactions in the local community.
The decision comes after two sets of parents sued the school district for allowing their children to change their names and pronouns without parental consent. In June of 2022, a judge, unfortunately, ruled that parents are constitutionally able to bring up their children as they see fit and the school district violated such a right. The parents later said they hoped the decision would encourage the school district to update its policies. The update did come in August of this year.
Shortly after the judge’s ruling and KMSD’s decision, the Arrowhead School Board approved a similar policy requiring parental permission for student names and pronoun usage to be changed while at school. It is also compulsory for parents to be made aware of their student’s preferred name and pronouns that are used at school because they are the primary caretaker of the child. Essentially, Arrowhead is attempting to avoid being sued as KM was.
Policies such as these two are becoming frequently more common. On one side of the argument, parents and members of the community are against bringing politically charged topics into the classroom while the other side emphasizes the importance of accepting differences. The policies are proving to create more problems than “solutions.”
In the case of the KMSD, The Trevor Project, a national organization providing crisis and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ+ youth, sent a letter outlining the importance of positive and affirming environments for students identifying within any of the communities. The letter further went on to detail that 45% of LGBTQ+ youth consider suicide, but in affirming schools, there is a lower rate of suicide attempts versus those who do not. So in districts like Kettle Moraine and Arrowhead, there is very likely going to be an increase in mental health crises when children do not feel as though they can truly be themselves.
The wording of these policies is also extremely detrimental to the communities they are impacting. Banning the use of “political flags'' initially sounds like a good idea because in a public school system political ideologies should not be forced upon the student body. However, pride flags are not political because of the nature of what they represent. A pride flag in a classroom merely means that the teacher is a safe person for those in the LGBTQ+ community. It doesn’t specifically represent liberal or conservative ideals because acceptance has no ideological affiliation. Acceptance is a virtue of equality that most strive to achieve and should in order for students in a learning environment to feel like they are able to succeed.
KM’s policy has gone further than the court case has required. It has nothing to do with parental consent and all to do with taking away visual support students need to feel accepted and welcomed. By taking away schools as a safe place to learn and celebrate diversity, there is a severe lack of acceptance developed that can lead to extremely close-minded views which only harm more people in the long run and lead to more discriminatory practices. Luckily there are two strong-minded individuals at the KMSD that are rallying to change the poor decision-making. They are Bethany Provan, a sophomore at Kettle Moraine High School for Arts and Performances, and Brit Farrar, a sophomore at the High School of Health Sciences. The two created a Change.org petition that has amassed over 14,000 signatures and they have spoken at a school board meeting to get their voices heard regarding their distaste for the policy. Brit and Bethany graciously took time to give more insight into the situation as individuals directly affected and actively pursuing change.
Why did you decide to make a petition? What are you still actively hoping to accomplish?
Brit: I wanted to make this petition to have evidence for the school board that the community does not feel supported by this policy. With 8,000 signatures overnight, we decided to speak at the school board and get our names out there to show that we aren't the only ones doing something about this policy because it is manipulative and VERY discriminative. We are actively working with our unity club here at KM to change this policy and show our school board and community that it's okay to support other people other than yourself.
Bethany: I thought that this would be a good way to spread the word on what's happening and to show the board that these many people think that their rule is ridiculous. I am very proud of us. I think that we really wanted to show that we aren't stepping down from this and we are not letting this one slide like we have with all the name-calling and harassment we have experienced.
Do you feel that the school board's decision accurately represents the student body and their parents?
Brit: I HIGHLY disagree with the action that the Kettle Moraine School Board has made. Everyone is different in some way. First and foremost, taking away pride flags doesn't fix anything. Why is it distracting to students? A pride flag shows that you as a teacher are an ally.
How do you feel about Arrowhead's similar policy?
Bethany: Ridiculous. They are pretty much saying that the parents get to decide what their kid identifies as. If I had to go home each day knowing my parents don't accept me, then go to school where I'm not even accepted or a place where I could identify how I feel I should, I don't even know what I would do. I think that with this policy they find a lot of mental health cases increase and many kids will start to shut down and not speak to staff.
Do you feel represented or heard at your school?
Brit: I personally do not because as a queer student, I have been targeted for many reasons. I do speak out in my opinion for people to know that I am someone they can come to. I am also in many leadership positions in school but even through that, I am not able to feel as though I am heard by the school board and a portion of the community. I accept that people do have many different opinions than mine but I don't feel as though it should be something to hold against someone. Even when everyone was done talking at the board meeting they decided not to speak on it. Not even a small discussion. It hurts to know that my school and community do not support me because of a small part of me that is different from them.
Bethany: No, I think they pretty much closed their ears when people were speaking on the issue. I don't understand how people can sit there and listen to kids tell horrible stories about their experience in the hallways at our school and say at the end “I don't think there needs to be a change.”
How does the public’s reaction to the school board's decision and your petition make you feel?
Brit: It honestly blows my mind how much support and love we are getting from our community because of speaking out on this HUGE issue. People from all around the world have reached out to Bethany and me for help, support, or even sharing their advice. I am incredibly grateful for what the people who support us are doing. On the other hand, there have been lots more bullying in school and outside of it. It's a struggle, to say the least, but I would never regret what I am doing and what I did.
Bethany: It makes me feel a bit more heard and to know that this many people actually have our back is pretty freaking cool. It makes me feel a bit more comfortable in my skin. I also now know who I can go to in times of need. For example, I have a very supportive teacher who has stickers and a pride pin. They are so amazing and have helped me get through many things regarding slurs, harassment, etc.
What public support have you received, from students and adults?
Brit: There is a group that Bethany and I are a part of which has helped us through a lot this year. Many of the students who are in this group go to perform or HS^2 which is great because that's where Bethany and I go. I am insanely grateful for the support and couldn't have asked for a better group of people to speak with and have conversations about real-world issues.
Bethany: We have started a group of adults and some kids, and we have met a couple of times to talk about everything and for me, it has helped a lot. Also, emails from staff say how proud they are of us. Knowing that certain people have our backs no matter what means a lot. Some people that would expect to be on the other side are actually on our side. So it's helped me to realize people who I was wrong about.
Despite facing hardship in feeling represented by their school, the two girls have still proved to show that they are resilient and brave for being strong leaders and voices for others. They are working in their school community to be more inclusive and affirming so that everyone can have a place to be comfortable in their own skin. They should be very proud of themselves for the work they have put into helping others and proving that these discriminatory policies don’t work simply because who someone is as a person isn’t a political choice it is their being.
If you want to check out Brit and Bethany’s petition check out this link and to help those in the LGBTQ+ community check out the Trevor Project website. The change starts with education and acceptance for a better future for all.
