The full School Committee is scheduled to have its first of three required public readings of a draft flag policy Thursday, March 20. The meeting, held at Marblehead High School, begins at 6 p.m. People can join virtually HERE.
On March 7, the School Committee’s policy subcommittee released its latest draft flag policy, which excludes students and the community from having input in which flags and banners may be displayed in schools, a stance that the subcommittee indicated was largely due to advice from the School Committee’s attorney. If approved, it could lead to the removal of Black Lives Matter, Juneteenth and Pride flags.
More than 120 students and residents packed two recent public forums, with the overwhelming majority asking that students have a voice in the decision-making process around flags.
The draft policy states only U.S., Massachusetts and POW/MIA flags can be displayed on school district property. It also gives the School Committee sole power to approve any additional “flags, banners and similarly symbolic displays that reflect the school district’s mission, vision and values.”
Lastly, the new policy says the School Committee “will not accept any third party requests.” School Committee Chair Jenn Schaeffner, who sits on the policy subcommittee with Alison Taylor, said on March 7 that she believes “third party” refers to anyone other than the School Committee.
At that March 7 meeting, Taylor suggested that they get clarification on different aspects of the new draft policy, specially what “third party” means and if there is any delineation between indoor and outdoor flags.
“I think we should think about vetting some of those things out a little bit more before we do a first reading with the full School Committee,” Taylor said.
Schaeffner said she would contact the attorney, and suggested Taylor speak to him as well, to get that clarification, and meet again as a subcommittee to discuss any changes to the proposal.
Schaeffner told the Current Wednesday she believes Taylor did speak with the attorney. Due to time constraints, she and Taylor could not meet again before Thursday’s full School Committee meeting but will proceed with a first reading anyway. Earlier in the week, Schaeffner said she might postpone the flag reading.
“I decided to bring this forward to get the input of the full committee,” Schaeffner wrote in an email. “I feel strongly that we need to keep this moving forward, and it will be the decision of the full committee to determine the final draft. We have received much criticism about this process, and I want to ensure that we respond to those concerns and continue to move forward to a final draft for consideration by the SC.”
Schaeffner said the attorney did not suggest any changes to the draft policy.
