Pennridge Moves to Change Pride Flag Ban Policy, Gives Update on Book Ban Policy

A year later Democrats gain control of Pennridge school boardThe new board is set to rescind a controversial policy that prohibits staff from displaying “propaganda” in classrooms, including Pride flags.

At a meeting earlier this week, the board voted 5-3 along party lines to rescind the policy, which was adopted in 2022 by the Republican-majority board. This employees are prohibited from engaging in propaganda “personal beliefs about political, social, religious, sexual orientation and gender identity” in classrooms.

But the change is not final: The matter now returns to the board’s policy committee, where the board president has suggested some changes are likely to be made.

The vote is also not expected to end controversy in Bucks County, which continues to face criticism over the removal of library books and rules regarding restrooms that transgender students can use.

“It is painfully clear that the legacy of extremism is not a thing of the past,” Laura Foster, a Pennridge parent and proponent of diversity, equity and inclusion policies, told the board at Monday’s meeting.

Here is the Pennridge School Board’s position on a number of hot-button issues:

Cancellation of propaganda policy

Pennridge is one of many counties that flipped to Democratic control in last year’s election and found itself at the center of culture war battles. But he’s moving slower than some of his peers. such as Central Bucksin reversing the policies of their predecessors.

However, like Central Bucks, Pennridge is now ready to abandon its advocacy policy and return to its original version, which stated only that staff could not engage in “political activity” at the school. (This version, which mirrors that in several other districts, says that learning about politics and discussing political issues in classrooms is allowed.)

Propaganda bans are “vague policies,” said Ron Wurtz, Pennridge’s board president. Wurtz was originally elected as a Republican, but was re-elected last year as a Democrat after dissent. former board hired curriculum consultant associated with the conservative educational movement.

Under the policy, Wurtz said, “teachers may feel uncomfortable” not knowing how they are allowed to support students.

While arguing that the propaganda policy should be retained, Republicans raised concerns about teachers displaying Pride flags. Some board members said teachers who did not have flags posted were perceived as not offering a “safe space.”

“If we’re going to allow this, we have to allow everything,” including “outright Pride flags,” fellow Republican council member Ricky Chaikin said at a political committee meeting in early October. Another member, Jordan Blomgren, warned that teachers were grooming children, a statement that drew pushback from Democrats. “This has nothing to do with propaganda or politics,” said Bradley Merkle-Gump, a Democrat on the board.

During Monday’s board meeting, Blomgren noted that the board had received an email from the group Gays Against Groomers urging it to maintain its current advocacy policy. (Democrats on the board noted that the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated Gays Against Groomers as an extremist group for “dehumanization” anti-trans rhetoric.”)

In proposing to reintroduce the district’s previous policy, which prohibited only political activity, Wurtz said in an interview that the board could revise it to also include religious propaganda. Some Republican board members expressed concern about teachers’ anti-Christian statements.

More book deletions

The current board has already rescinded a Republican-backed library policy that prohibited “sexualized content.” But some community members have expressed disappointment that books continue to be removed from library shelves.

Earlier this fall, the district announced that its school librarian reviewed 22 books taken from library shelves during the 2022-23 school year – removals that were not publicly announced at the timebut, as administrators admitted, this was a response to the ban on sexual content.

Although the librarian determined that six of these books should be returned to the libraryit removed 14 more cases and remanded two to the rehearing committee.

The district also removed 11 more books and a series of graphic novels from library shelves based on requests submitted this school year — some due to old policies prohibiting sexually explicit content. But others were suspended and deemed inappropriate under a new policy adopted in September by the Democratic council.

At an October policy committee meeting, Leah Foster Rush, a Democrat on the board, said she was concerned that removing books was “out of touch” with what students want to read and that the district could miss opportunities to pique children’s interest. .

“These books, in the opinion of our librarians, are not age appropriate for our students,” Wurtz said at Monday’s school board meeting, outlining the board’s progress on the policy changes. He said it was “time to let our professionals handle any future issues.”

Bathroom Policy

The board is also facing criticism over its restroom policies. Although the Democrats overturned the decision of the previous board of directors policy that required students and staff to use restrooms according to their sex rather than gender identity, they replaced it with rules that differentiated restrooms for “biologically” male and female students, and others for students who identified as male or female.

This distinction remains discriminatory, according to federal complaint which accuses Pennridge of creating hostile environment for students of color and LGBTQ students. The complaint was originally filed in November 2023, but updated in August with new charges.

Foster, co-founder of the RIDGE Network, one of the groups that filed the complaint, noted Monday that gay students “continue to face limited bathroom access”; critics say restricting transgender students to “gender identity” or single-use restrooms could force them to come out. She demanded the board address the persistent “climate of racism, homophobia and transphobia” in the district.

On Monday, Wurtz told community members that “there will be compromises.” In an interview, he rejected claims by some that the board is “leaning to the right.”

“Most people believe that decisions should be approached in a balanced way,” he said.