Central Bucks is an example of how far wrong a school district can go

The majority members of the Central Bucks school board have argued that they voted to ban Pride flags in classrooms “because students should be taught how to think, not what to think.”

Last week, board president Dana Hunter and Superintendent Abe Lucabaugh sent a district-wide email in which they seemed to find fault with the community of students, parents, educators, a group of experts from Penn’s Graduate School of Education, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, the Education Law Center, an interfaith minister, and psychologists — all of whom raised concerns about Policy 321.

Gender identity and sexual orientation are not belief systems. And by conflating Pride flags with the expression of religious or political affiliations, the majority members of the school board are discriminating against LGBTQ students. The purpose of Pride flags in classrooms is not to endorse an identity, but to offer safety. How can a board that promises “inclusion” do so by banning the very symbols they know help protect and support some of our most vulnerable kids?

The Central Bucks School District has a lot of problems that we know well. The district faces staffing and busing shortages, an unprecedented mental health crisis, and pandemic-related learning loss.

But rather than focusing on real issues, our school board considers it a top priority to pass a policy about a nonexistent problem. The board majority, which has ties to an anti-LGBTQ Christian nationalist group, is spending a staggering amount on legal and PR firms. The U.S. Department of Education is investigating alleged discrimination against LGBTQ students after the Pennsylvania chapter of the ACLU filed a federal complaint.

The board majority accuses teachers of “indoctrination” without a shred of evidence that any exists. There has been no survey. No tabulation of complaints. No reports from principals.

The board also appears to believe that if teachers divulge how they think on any controversial issue, they will harm students’ ability to think for themselves. Teachers might long for this kind of power, which if they had it they could use to make every child an expert. If only it were that easy to teach them the beauty of a poem or the quadratic equation.

We are opposed to Policy 321 because we believe it is at best unnecessary and at worse discriminatory, chilling to classroom climate, adversarial in intent and effect, and will fail to prevent the problems it purports to address.

Policy 321 is a vote of no confidence for teachers and perpetuates a hostile environment for many marginalized students — and not just those in the LGBTQ community. On Jan. 25, a Central Bucks librarian was instructed to remove a quotation from the library window: “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

These words come from Elie Wiesel’s 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech for Night, one of the most highly acclaimed books of Holocaust literature. Night is an approved ninth-grade curricular book in Central Bucks. Two days before Holocaust Remembrance Day, Policy 321 forced the removal of these profound words from the library. This is appalling.

We were right in every danger we predicted. Neither the board nor the administration understands its own policy, how to implement it, or appears to care about its dire results. What message does this send to our Jewish families?

Had the board done any research, had it spoken to any teachers, and had it listened to the preponderance of public comment, it could have fostered a vibrant conversation about how to navigate the roiled waters of public opinion while safeguarding students’ trust.

But instead, the board chose to focus on accusation (“indoctrination”) and platitudes (they need to learn “how to think, not what to think”) while dodging the real work of guiding teachers to do their best.

Policy 321 reveals the board’s low opinion of its own employees and students. Kids will always be able to think for themselves. To assert otherwise is to insult their intelligence.

Kate Nazemi is the mother of two children in the Central Bucks School District. Katherine Good Semisch is the mother of three Central Bucks graduates, the grandmother of one Central Bucks graduate, and a retired Central Bucks English teacher. Together they are cofounders of Advocates for Inclusive Education.