Idaho school teacher's "Everyone is Welcome" sign in the classroom conflicts with state nondiscrimination policies

[ozso]

Never been to Idaho. Are they too conservative for some people?

They're liberal enough to create the Dignity and Nondiscrimination in Public Education Act.

 

[A2SG]

They're liberal enough to create the Dignity and Nondiscrimination in Public Education Act.

Dignity and Nondiscrimination in Public Education aren't conservative values?

-- A2SG, just wondering, figured those kinda things were pretty non-partisan.....

 

[RileyG]

Dignity and Nondiscrimination in Public Education aren't conservative values?

-- A2SG, just wondering, figured those kinda things were pretty non-partisan.....

It’s neither liberal nor conservative. It’s basic human respect.

 

[FireDragon76]

Never been to Idaho. Are they too conservative for some people?

Conservative is too kind a word to use. There are alot of real skinheads/neo-nazis in Idaho.

 

[RileyG]

Conservative is too kind a word to use. There are alot of real skinheads/neo-nazis in Idaho.

Ah, that’s too bad.

 

[FireDragon76]

Ah, that’s too bad.

The state is also 99 percent white. Not exactly a place known for its diversity in the first place.

 

[A2SG]

It’s neither liberal nor conservative. It’s basic human respect.

One would think. Hence my question.

-- A2SG, curious what the answer will be....

 

[ozso]

Dignity and Nondiscrimination in Public Education aren't conservative values?

Not according to liberals.

 

[A2SG]

Not according to liberals.

Really? Which liberals said this? As one myself, I don't agree.

-- A2SG, on record as figuring those kinda things were pretty non-partisan....

 

[RileyG]

The state is also 99 percent white. Not exactly a place known for its diversity in the first place.

Not to ramble on, but in some areas, some families stay in the same place for generations. Recently, times have been changing. I was related to many, many people in my hometown. There was a joke that a vast majority of the people in the town I went to college to were all related to each other. Maybe it's a regional thing? I don't know.

 

[FireDragon76]

Not to ramble on, but in some areas, some families stay in the same place for generations. Recently, times have been changing. I was related to many, many people in my hometown. There was a joke that a vast majority of the people in the town I went to college to were all related to each other. Maybe it's a regional thing? I don't know.

That's part of the reason, but also it's due to the area attracting white supremacists for decades.

 

[rjs330]

Sure, teachers are employees, but it isn't quite that simple. First, they are also government workers -- which both gives extra protections and, at the same time, adds additional restrictions. Even your job likely can't fire you for just any reason, instead you typically have to have violated some type of policy at your work. The issue here, these signs don't appear to violate any of the district standards -- in fact, there are other signs in the hallways of the school (and as such likely district approved) that have similar messages.

We aren't talking about firings. The protections are typically union protections against discipline. The district can have rules and policies in place which the teacher must adhere to, if the district tells you to take down a sign then take it down and use a different one.

The district determines if the standard is broken. Not the teacher. And in this case the district decided it did. And they had a right to remove it

in fact, there are other signs in the hallways of the school (and as such likely district approved) that have similar messages.

Then use one of the approved signs.

The explanation basically makes no sense.

Irrelevant. There are plenty of things that bosses and employees do that make no sense. There are laws on the books that make no sense. But if your boss tells you remove a sign then remove it and put up a different one. Quit whining about it. Man people have gotten a real entitlement mentality.

Apparently she now has until the end of the year to remove the signs and, based on the community support for the teacher, I have to wonder if the district will respond yet again.

If I were the district I would have given her a day. The when school was out I would have gone in and just removed them. She could pick it up from the office along with a warning letter.

As for if it deserves its own threat, you'd have to take the up with the OP. Though the fact that it has now generated two pages of responses, in just a couple of days, would indicate to me that it is worth of its own thread.

People will argue over anything. Even if it is dumb. As for me. I'm out. I've spent to much time on this dumb topic.

 

[durangodawood]

"Everyone is welcome" could make white people feel bad. White feelings matter.

 

[Belk]

Not according to liberals.

Our yourself apparently. Seems odd you would agree with them.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Renaissance High students hold walkout after West Ada teacher was asked to remove "everyone is welcome" sign​

Sarah Inama, a 6th-grade teacher at Lewis and Clark Middle School, has recently spoken out about her experience being directed to remove signs from her classroom that supposedly express a personal opinion.

Inama, in an email from the district, was told that her poster "conflicts with the intention of Policy and Section 33-138, Idaho Code, Dignity and Nondiscrimination in Public Education Act," and was instructed to "immediately remove" it.

The West Ada School District also says, "... this situation is not about limiting speech or expression but about ensuring consistency.”

--

Looking at the law, if anything the sign would appear to support it, in that the sign clearly does NOT say or imply things that are banned by the law

(i) That any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior;
(ii) That individuals should be adversely treated on the basis of their sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin; or

Pessimistically, I suppose the sign might not "acknowledge the right of others to express differing opinions" such as "Everyone is not welcome".

Does anyone have a picture of the sign?

 

[Pommer]

Does anyone have a picture of the sign?

They’re there on the page of the OP’s link, top, the one with the depictions of the hands and the words-in-colored-blocks, that you quoted.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

They’re there on the page of the OP’s link, top, the one with the depictions of the hands and the words-in-colored-blocks, that you quoted.

Thank you. Although I do not see any issue with the sign. The question is why it was needed to be placed? Welcoming other races in a public school is implied. What would you think if a restaurant had a sign that said, "black people are welcome here?"

 

[SimplyMe]

Thank you. Although I do not see any issue with the sign. The question is why it was needed to be placed? Welcoming other races in a public school is implied. What would you think if a restaurant had a sign that said, "black people are welcome here?"

Considering the school district is being sued by some former Black students for discrimination, maybe that is why they consider the signs to be "personal opinion?"

 

[Pommer]

Thank you. Although I do not see any issue with the sign. The question is why it was needed to be placed? Welcoming other races in a public school is implied. What would you think if a restaurant had a sign that said, "black people are welcome here?"

The signs have been up for four years and only became controversial after a Trump EO decried inclusive language in schools.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Idaho teacher in classroom-sign furor quits. Here’s what she told school officials​

“I hate to leave my students and my colleagues … but I just feel like it’s important to me to feel like I’m supported by my employers, and I just don’t feel like that in my school district,” she said.