District staff are also barred from including their preferred pronouns in their email signatures.
With only one member opposing, the board of the Kettle Moraine School District in southeastern Wisconsin voted last week to affirm district Superintendent Stephen Plum’s decision to interpret the district’s ban on political messaging in classrooms to include prohibitions on the display of Black Lives Matter and gay pride flags.
The ban does not just include prohibitions on flags and displays typically associated with left-wing causes. Any teacher or staffer with a pro-police flag such as a Blue Lives Matter or “back the badge” flag would run afoul of the policy. Religious displays are also prohibited.
“Teachers and administration will not have political flags or religious messaging in their classroom or on their person,” Plum said.
“If you have a policy that says ‘nothing political,’ does that mean you can’t have a sign up that says, ‘Support our Troops,’ or ‘Believe Women’ or ‘Save the Planet?’ By some people’s definitions, all of those things are political,” ACLU attorney Christine Donahoe said.
A significant crowd attended the board meeting where the policy was discussed. The majority of speakers during the meeting’s one-hour public comment period reportedly expressed opposition to the policy, claiming that pride and BLM flags are not political statements.
“Teachers and administration will not have political flags or religious messaging in their classroom or on their person,” said Superintendent Stephen Plum.
Plum said in July anything that includes slogans like “Black Lives Matter,” “Blue Lives Matter” and even preferred pronouns in a teacher’s email signature is considered political.
“If you have a policy that says ‘nothing political,’ does that mean you can’t have a sign up that says, ‘Support our Troops,’ or ‘Believe Women’ or ‘Save the Planet?’ By some people’s definitions, all of those things are political,” said Christine Donahoe, ACLU of Wisconsin staff attorney.
Donahoe said she’s looking closely at this case and a similar policy that was approved in the School District of Waukesha in fall 2021.
“It really looks like targeted attacks at specific viewpoints, like LGBT communities, or welcome and safe spaces to students of color,” said Donahoe.
Political | Process 
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