SARASOTA, Fla. — Some high school teachers in Sarasota are speaking out after they were told by school administrators to remove some flags and symbols from their classrooms. One of the flags was a "Coexist" flag with a rainbow stripe that was in the classroom of a social studies teacher.
Officials with the Sarasota County School District confirmed that at least one teacher at Booker High School was asked to remove a flag from the classroom because it was considered to be in violation of school board policy against political activity on school grounds.
School administrators went on a clean sweeping spree of classrooms last week after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Parental Rights in Education law, which critics called the "Don't Say Gay" bill by critics, and the "Stop W.O.K.E Act".
"People and teachers wouldn't need a 'Coexist' flag if everybody would just coexist. It's the people that don't want to coexist that have problems with the flag," said Jeremy Baldwin, a social studies teacher at Booker High School.
Baldwin said the flag is aimed at iinviting tolerance in discourse and acknowledging differences and diversity such as in religion, culture, and orientation. He said the flag had hung on the wall of his classroom, in between two other flags including one with a "Peace" sign, for four years before it was nixed.
"It's just meant as a signal to my students that all are going to be accepted, all are going to get along and since we are such a diverse school there are many students represented in the flag," Baldwin said.
Another teacher was also told to take down a "Pride" and "Whiskey Rebellion" flag, including one flag which a student brought from the "Island of Lesbos" and any paraphernalia with rainbow colors.
"There were some small pride flags on my desk, some ball hats from Sarasota Pride, from Manatee Pride, all of which students provided and put on the wall. I had about 310 hats up there," Gail Foreman, a history teacher at Booker High School.
The district would not elaborate on whether the clean-up was spurred by the new laws. A spokesperson sent this statement below:
"With regard to Booker High School, we can confirm that a teacher was asked to remove a flag from their classroom that was considered to be in violation of School Board Policy 2.51 (Political Activity on School Board Grounds).
It is the expectation of all district administrators, school-based administrators, teachers, staff members, and students to adhere to School Board policies and work together to maintain a safe and effective working & learning environment for all. At this time we do not have any additional information or insights available with regard to this matter."
The teachers argued that the flags were not political and that the district was trying to get ahead of any potential lawsuits and avoid the risk of funding cuts.
"The school district and everybody else is afraid of not getting state money, our governor has made that very clear with the mask mandate," Foreman said. "If you mandate mask-wearing you don't get money from the state. He is a big bully and he is blackmailing."
The teachers said the move sends a wrong signal to a section of students who in addition to already being different are now questioning whether or not they are all considered equal.
Baldwin and Foreman hope that they can bring back the flags into the classroom and represent everybody. For now, though, Foreman has taken down everything that's on her wall and says she would now only put up items that the school or district supply.
"They can take the flags and anything else but they can't take my gayness out of me," she said.
Meanwhile, in Baldwin's social studies class, a different message is posted in the empty space.
"The students really are not understanding why this is considered political. It's something that has always been in my classroom, we've never discussed it, it's just there to set a tone that we are all going to get along," he said.
The Sarasota School Board Policy does not specifically mention Pride flags but it states that political posters and literature should not be displayed or distributed on property. Employees also can not participate in partisan politics at school or during instructional hours.