Marblehead High School students will get another chance to share their thoughts about a controversial draft flag policy at a forum with the School Committee this Thursday, Feb. 13, at 2:30 p.m. Students are invited to attend in person at the high school, and there is also a virtual link.
The flag policy would permit only Marblehead, Massachusetts, U.S. and POW flags on school property and would lead to the removal of a Black Lives Matter banner and Pride flag in the MHS cafeteria.
School Committee members Jenn Schaeffner and Alison Taylor are also planning a forum for the community to discuss the proposal. No date had been set for that as of the Current’s press deadline.
The School Committee started considering a flag policy after a Marblehead resident confessed to taking down the BLM flag in the MHS cafeteria without permission. That prompted Principal Michele Carlson and then-acting superintendent Michelle Cresta to ask the School Committee whether it had a policy.
School Committee members have cited the Supreme Court case, Shurtleff v. City of Boston, involving a flag at Boston City Hall, saying the ruling supports their plan to limit flags in schools.
However, when contacted by the Current last year, ACLU of Massachusetts staff attorney Rachel Davidson said the nonprofit is “troubled by the censorious nature” of the School Committee’s draft policy.
“Courts have ruled that it is not for local officials to mandate any particular orthodoxy in public schools,” Davidson added. “And because schools are places where students prepare to participate in our pluralistic society, it may not be wise as an educational matter for the School Committee to attempt to micromanage expression and access to information in schools in this way.”
For more than a year, many students and community members have spoken out — at meetings, rallies and more — against the draft policy. Students have demanded that they have a say in what flags and banners can hang in their school.
MHS senior Maren Potter told the Current on Feb. 7, “We remain even more committed to ensuring that every student in the district feels welcomed and supported. Students are organizing to best have their voices heard, and we plan to present a reasonable policy that will accommodate the legal issues in the Supreme Court ruling as well as including the input from student voices. We believe this policy ensures a more inclusive atmosphere at the schools.”
No students have spoken in favor of limiting flags in schools, but a handful of residents have. Nyla Dubois has shared her support of removing the BLM banner and Pride flag.
“Not everyone sees the same values in those particular symbols,” Dubois said. “Even the one (Pride flag) on the sidewalk outside the information booth … These symbols are what some people believe speak for everybody, and that’s just not true. You can’t say that the Pride flag stands for every lesbian or trans person.”
The student forum will be available HERE.
