Principals at Durango High School and Miller Middle School informed staff members Wednesday of an Oct. 1 directive to the district that “political flags, posters and items displaying political symbols,” must be removed from classrooms in response to a parental complaint.
The policy specifically says Black Lives Matter flags and a variation of the LGBTQ+ pride flag that includes a white, pink and light blue stripe to represent the transgender community, as well as symbolism recognizing intersex people and communities of color, must be removed.
Standard pride flags featuring parallel rainbow colors may stay on display, district spokeswoman Karla Sluis said.
The district is caught “between a rock and a hard place,” she added, as officials balance the legal advice of counsel with what is likely to be unhappy constituents on all sides of this matter.
Teachers were told they must take down the material by Friday’s end. Students would be informed of the decision Monday, according to an internal email from DHS Principal Jon Hoerl sent to all school staff members and leaked to The Durango Herald.
Multiple staff members at Escalante Middle School confirmed they received a similar directive during a meeting the week of Sept. 30.
School and district leaders were also instructed to monitor school facilities to ensure that employees had not posted political symbols.
“School districts are really in the eye of the storm right now,” Sluis said. “They are dealing with our culture wars and all of the focus is on them, which is quite unfortunate when you think about the actual business that we’re in of teaching our students.”
