Detroit Lakes school board advances new policy amid rainbow sticker fight
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The Detroit Lakes school board has been trying to remove rainbow stickers from school grounds for months. It met again Monday night to debate a new policy that on its face is more neutral.
But it’s not entirely clear if the new language is still intended to ban the stickers, which some teachers display on their doors or desks to affirm that their classroom is a safe space for LGBTQ+ students.
The new resolution is much more expansive and says employees must maintain something called “viewpoint neutrality” and can’t display anything that seems primarily dedicated to a particular identity or viewpoint.
It does not specifically mention rainbows.
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But last week, Detroit Lakes school board member Sanford Nelson, who has been leading the effort around the rainbow ban, seemed to indicate that the purpose of the new resolution is still to ban rainbow stickers.
“Now we have language that we know will meet the legal muster and move us forward with the July resolution,” he said.
However, at the board meeting Monday, Sanford was less forthcoming and would not directly answer whether the new policy would ban rainbow stickers.
The new policy passed its first reading and will be up for a vote again next month.
Community response
Since the July resolution banning rainbow stickers, there’s been a lot of pushback on the policy, as well as legal issues. Two parents and the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota are suing the district over the ban, saying it violates students’ constitutional rights.
And many community members expressed opposition to the rainbow sticker ban at the Monday night meeting, where they filled a packed room that overflowed into an additional space. The audience also included many teachers in the district, some of whom were wearing rainbow lanyards.
Tom Seaworth, a former school board member, was one of about a dozen people who spoke in opposition to the ban. He said the board went about the ban in the wrong way without getting input from administrators and teachers.
He added that those stickers are worth keeping up even if they can help save the life of just one student who feels isolated.
“It's a symbol for kids who are struggling, and it does include the LGBQT community, but it’s not exclusive to them,” he said in an interview after the meeting. “And so, my concern is there are kids that are thinking of harming themselves. They know that they can go there.”
Seaworth said since his time on the board, it seems like the group has lost its way in terms of its decorum and methods of passing policies.
Proponents of the ban declined to comment after the meeting.
But Trevor Janich, a pastor in Detroit Lakes, recently told MPR News that the rainbow stickers don’t always signal inclusivity.
Janich said he knows of a student who was being bullied by another student who identified as LGBTQ+. Janich said the student who was bullied didn’t feel comfortable confiding in a teacher who displayed a rainbow sticker, because the student felt like the teacher wouldn’t take his side.
“The student walked up to the door and saw that pride sticker, and they felt that that teacher has already sided with that community, that they couldn't find help,” Janich said. “And that's where my heart broke.”
He added that all teachers should offer a safe space for all students, so the stickers shouldn’t be necessary.
“It's how we live with each other,” he said. “It's how we communicate with each other. It's building the trust and so — our teachers, our school, our administrators — we need to be building trust in our students so that they know they can come talk to us.”
Another hot button issue emerges
On Monday, the Detroit Lakes school board also took a vote on another hot button issue.
At board member Nelson’s request, it approved sending a motion to urge the Minnesota State High School League, which governs athletics in the state, to essentially prohibit transgender students from playing on girls’ sports teams.
Four board members voted in favor of the measure, and two voted against it.
One of the “no” votes came from Julie Smith-Yliniemi. She said the Minnesota Human Rights Act protects trans athletes, so changes to federal policy about trans people in women’s sports don’t apply here.
Plus, she said the district is already being sued for allegedly violating that state law with the rainbow ban.
“Putting this on our radar right now is like putting fuel on the fire, because there's no need, there's no … urgency,” she said.
As the school board’s designated representative to the league, Smith-Yliniemi Other is tasked with signing the letter that was approved. But she said she refuses to do so.
The district’s activities director is another designated representative, and the board said it’ll be up to him to sign it. But if he chooses not to, it’s not clear where the letter will land.
Audio transcript
HARSHAWN RATANPAL: Hi, Nina.
NINA MOINI: First of all, would you tell us, what are these rainbow stickers, what are they, and what is the big deal with them?
HARSHAWN RATANPAL: Yeah. So these are small, 2 by 3 inch stickers that some teachers display on their doors or on their desks. They say the point is to indicate their inclusivity and to affirm that their classroom is a safe space for LGBTQ+ students. Those stickers have been up for about a decade, but this summer, four school board members surprised the community by voting to ban them.
But for months since then, there's been a lot of pushback, including legal problems. Two parents and the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota are suing the district over the ban, saying it violates students constitutional rights. In the meantime, the stickers have stayed up despite that ban in July.
NINA MOINI: OK, so the stickers are still up. There are legal issues, but I understand there's been a lot of back and forth in recent months. Can you fill us in?
HARSHAWN RATANPAL: Right. So the board asked the district attorney to come up with some amendments to district policy instead about what teachers and students can display on campus. The board is now working on moving forward with that, and a new version is much more expansive and says employees must maintain something called viewpoint neutrality and can't display anything that seems dedicated to a particular identity or viewpoint.
This new resolution, unlike that July ban, doesn't specifically mention rainbows. Board member Sanford Nelson has been leading this effort around the ban, and last week, he seemed to say that the purpose of the board's new resolution is still to ban rainbow stickers like they tried to in July, just with less specific language.
SANFORD NELSON: Now, we have language that we know will meet the legal muster and move us forward with the July resolution.
HARSHAWN RATANPAL: However, at the board meeting last night, he was less forthcoming and would not directly answer whether the new policy would ban rainbow stickers. That new policy passed its first reading last night and will be up for a vote again next month.
NINA MOINI: What kind of reaction were you hearing from community members last night about this?
HARSHAWN RATANPAL: You can really tell this issue is incensing the community. The room was completely packed. People were standing in the back of the room for hours and even overflowed to a completely different room. That included a lot of teachers in the district, many of whom were wearing a rainbow lanyard, probably close to 100 people overall.
The meeting itself was very chaotic, too, a lot of shouting at the board during the two and a half hours, and most of the audience seemed in opposition to the ban. About 14 people signed up for public comment, and only one or two spoke in favor of removing the stickers.
One of the voices in opposition was Tom Seaworth, a former school board member. He says the board really went about this in the wrong way, without getting any input from the community or administrators or teachers, and he says those stickers are worth keeping up, even if they can help save the life of just one student who feels isolated.
TOM SEAWORTH: It's a symbol for kids who are struggling, and it does include the LGBTQ community, but it's not exclusive to them. And so my concern is there are kids that are thinking of harming themselves. They know that they can go there.
HARSHAWN RATANPAL: He told me that since his time on the board, it seems like the school board has really lost its way when it comes to decorum and the way they pass policy. But on the flip side, I recently spoke to someone who thinks the rainbow stickers are not sending a message of inclusivity.
NINA MOINI: What did they have to say?
HARSHAWN RATANPAL: Yeah. That was Pastor Trevor Janich in Detroit Lakes. He says he spoke to a student who was being bullied by another student who identified as LGBTQ+. When the student went to tell a teacher, the student saw that rainbow sticker and felt like the teacher wouldn't take his side. Overall, Janich feels like the rainbows just send the wrong signal to some students.
NINA MOINI: OK. I understand the Detroit Lakes school board took on some other hot button issues in their meeting last night, too. Can you tell us about that?
HARSHAWN RATANPAL: Yeah. At board member Nelson's request, the board considered this letter to the Minnesota State High School League, which governs athletics in the state. The letter essentially calls on the league to prohibit transgender students from playing on girls sports teams.
Other districts have done similar, including Brainerd Public Schools just last week. And at Detroit Lakes last night, the board was, again, split 4 to 2, just like they were on the rainbow stickers, and the letter was approved. But one more twist.
The letter needs to be signed by the school board's official designated representative to the league, and the person tasked with doing that is refusing to. That's board member Julie Smith-Yliniemi. She says the Minnesota Human Rights Act protects trans athletes, so these changes to federal policy about trans people and women's sports, they just don't apply in Minnesota. Plus, the district is already being sued for allegedly violating the state law with the rainbow ban.
JULIE SMITH-YLINIEMI: Putting this on our radar right now is like putting fuel on the fire because there's no need. There's no, again, urgency. There's nothing in our face.
HARSHAWN RATANPAL: So if Smith-Yliniemi really doesn't sign it, there is another person the district could tap. The district's Activities Director is another designated representative, the board says, and they'll have him sign it. But it's not clear where he stands on all of this.
NINA MOINI: And all this is happening against this backdrop of at least one lawsuit seeking to end Minnesota's policy on trans athletes.
HARSHAWN RATANPAL: That's right. A judge heard arguments yesterday seeking to get one such case dismissed, and it's not clear when there will be a decision.
NINA MOINI: All right. Thanks for joining us, Harshawn.
HARSHAWN RATANPAL: Thanks for having me, Nina.
NINA MOINI: MPR News reporter Harshawn Ratanpal, joining us from our Moorhead Bureau.
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Transcription services provided by 3Play Media.
