Tensions remain over Pride flag ban at Sunol Glen Unified School District
Parents and residents in surrounding communities showed up at the Sunol Glen Unified School District Board meeting on Tuesday night with opposing views on a topic that has garnered attention throughout the Bay Area - the ban of special interest flags on campus.
The board on Sept. 12 voted in favor of the ban in a 2-1 vote. There are only three members on the board: board president Ryan Jergensen, Linda Hurley and Ted Romo. On Tuesday night, there were a few resolutions on the table, including one that would repeal and rescind their decision from Sept. 12.
Romo read the resolution and because there was no second motion, the board moved onto the next thing on the agenda.
"We had no motion, and we did not accept a resolution tonight," Jergensen said after the meeting.
Jergensen was the main backer of the new policy to limit flags at school.
Since the Sept. 12 meeting, there has been backlash from the community who did not support the board's decision. And before the meeting Tuesday night, there were some tense moments.
The group Castro Valley Pride gathered with rainbow flags and t-shirts that supported Superintendent Molly Barnes, who had spoken up in a past meeting supporting LGBTQ+ families, students and staff.
As Castro Valley Pride gathered, they played music. At one point, Dublin resident Mike Grant wanted Castro Valley Pride to turn off the music. Some kind of confrontation happened between Grant and a member of Castro Valley Pride and Grant tried turning off the music himself.
Grant told KPIX 5 he felt like the music was disrupting older people who can't hear well. Grant doesn't have a connection to Sunol Glen School but attended the meeting because he wanted to show support for the flag ban.
"You don't need children to be going through this," Grant said. "The children need to learn what's going on with American history and world history, mathematics. We don't need to be worrying about flags."
Parents who have kids at the school also showed up. Crystal Diamond has a child in kindergarten and a son who teaches at the school. She said she's felt the divisiveness in the last few weeks and was frustrated with how things transpired and how the decision to ban special interest flags was voted on.
Instead, she wants more conversations to happen before decisions are made.
"Could an 8th grade class donate a flag pole because they do a project every year or could community members decide they want to dedicate a flag pole?" Diamond said.
She added that it's not just the Pride flag in the year that could be discussed. There's cancer awareness months and there's Indigenous People's Day, she said.
Before the closed session, Romo announced he would not be going into closed session with the other board members.
"Because my expectation is that the discussion in closed session will be largely an attempt to take on and start a process for removing the superintendent," Romo said.
He added that his ability to speak out against that would be limited given that it's a closed session.
KPIX 5 asked Jergensen about that.
"They're trying to put words in our mouth. That's not anything that we've been trying to push or say publicly," Jergensen said.
He also said he and his family have been receiving threats.
"I've had threats on my life, my children's life, my wife's life," he said. "Even people in person at our school protesting and harassing my four children that come to this school."
When asked what he would tell parents who feel the school is not being inclusive, he said there are parents on all sides.
"This is not the time to try to make it about one group," Jergensen said. "It's about focusing on what brings us together, focusing on what unifies us and helps us come together as a school, to be unified and to unite under the banner of the United States flag, which is the most inclusive flag."
Cheryl Cook-Kallio, the vice president of the Alameda County Office of Education School Board and trustee for District 7, also attended the meeting.
"I'm very concerned and I'm concerned because I'm constantly getting emails and phone calls from community members and teachers that don't feel that their school board is listening to them," she said.