Apparently, being inclusive is a little divisive for officials of one Idaho school district.
Sarah Inama, a middle school teacher in Meridian, learned that lesson the hard way when she decided to post some signs in her classroom that read, “Everyone is welcome here.”
Although the idea of making everyone feel welcome seems like the least offensive thing a teacher could do, officials for the West Ada School District reportedly thought otherwise and ordered her to take down the signs.
The reasoning? District officials claimed that posters saying “Everyone is welcome here” violate a policy that requires classroom content to be neutral, per Inama.
“They told me that they were in violation of district policy because, in today’s political environment, they’re considered a personal opinion,” Inama told Boise NBC affiliate KTVB.
At first, she complied with the unwelcoming edict, but she said she changed her mind because she believes the message of the signs represents a core value of public education.
However, Marcus Myers, the district’s chief academic officer, told KTVB via email that policy dictates district facilities be “content neutral” and respect others’ right to express differing opinions.
Inama pointed out that her signs actually align with posters made by the district that encourage students to “welcome others and embrace diversity.”
Not surprisingly, she is concerned about the message being sent by the removal of her signs.“I just feel like as a teacher ... I would do anything to protect my students. I love all of them unconditionally,” Inama told KTVB.
HuffPost reached out to district officials for comment, but no one immediately responded.
The episode echoes a national trend since Donald Trump became president and immediately ordered the dismantling of programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
Along with private companies scaling back or ending their DEI programs, federal agencies are no longer celebrating holidays and history months like Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pride Month and Holocaust Days of Remembrance.
The results have occasionally been comical.
For instance, the Defense Department recently flagged more than 26,000 photos and online posts on its website for deletion because they were determined to have some kind of connection to DEI.
One of the items considered for deletion was a photo of the Enola Gay, the World War II aircraft that carried the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945.
Needless to say, the plane was not celebrating the LGBTQ community. Its pilot, Col. Paul Tibbets, Jr., named it after his mother, Enola Gay Tibbets.
