Some parents are pushing to recall two school board trustees who voted Tuesday to disallow flying the pride flag on the Sunol Glen School campus.
The resolution, proposed by the board president and passed 2-1, means the district’s lone school can only fly the U.S. and California state flags.
The issue originally arose in June, when the Sunol Glen School flew a pride flag in celebration of Pride Month.
“What happened last night was very disturbing,” said Molleen Barnes, the school’s superintendent and principal.
Barnes said the school has also flown the flag in years past without any issue.
“When you have 90% of your staff messaging the board, ‘we don’t want this resolution,’ and yet the resolution passes, that affects 100% of the staff. What does that mean?” said Barnes. “So I think today is about reassurance, making people feel that they’re safe.”
Some at the Tuesday night board meeting cheered the decision, though an NBC Bay Area crew present reported that many of the speakers were from out of the area.
“We need to clarify that school is funded by taxpayers,” said Lisa Disbrow, who was for the resolution. “And our United States’ red, white and blue flag is the most inclusive flag.”
NBC Bay Area reached out to the two board members who voted in favor of limiting the flags flown at Sunol Glen School.
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Linda Hurley responded with a statement, writing in part, “We will always be compassionate and accepting of all persons … My vote to fly only the American and state flags was not meant to disparage the LGBTQIA community but to legally protect our small school from legal action.”
Hurley was referring to a Supreme Court case that found the city of Boston violated the First Amendment because it allowed some groups to display their flag over city hall, but refused to fly a Christian group’s flag.
The other board member said that he has been getting heated emails, but had no other comment.
Now there is a growing effort to recall both of those board members, according to some parents.
One parent who spoke to NBC Bay Area said she’ll pull her kids from the school if that doesn’t happen.
“I did not sleep last night,” said Rhiana, a Sunol parent. “I was up until 1 a.m. and decided to just get in bed with my child. And I cried.”
Here is Hurley's full statement:
"My vote to fly only the American and state flags was not meant to disparage the LGBTQIA community but to legally protect our small school from legal action for breaking the Supreme Court Decision, Shurtleff vs. the city of Boston, October 2021. As a board member, and I am speaking for myself and not for the full Sunol Glen School Board, I feel a custodial responsibility to the furtherance of our school and therefore cannot be just emotional in my decisions.
"I must approach the actions of our board with wisdom and prudence. I sought advice from 2 legal entities that have dealt with school issues to be as informed as I could be. The legal advice I obtained was to protect the school from legal assault and because of the small size of our school, we are vulnerable to legal action. We will always be compassionate and accepting of all persons, especially the children."
