‘Everyone is Welcome’: Boise school district shows West Ada how it should be done | Opinion
The Boise School District responded in the right way to the controversy over the “Everyone is Welcome Here” poster that got a West Ada school teacher in trouble.
Who would have thought that a poster saying “Everyone is Welcome Here,” along with drawings of hands of different skin colors, would be considered controversial?
Yet, the West Ada School District ordered the teacher, Sarah Inama, to take the poster down, along with another poster that read, “In this room, everyone is welcome, important, accepted, respected, encouraged, valued, equal,” with each word in a different color that looks dangerously like — gasp — a rainbow.
She went public with her story, setting off a firestorm of reaction from the community, including protests, a “Chalk the Walk” drawing event at schools and the school district office, and the sale of 20,000 T-shirts with the saying and logo.
The West Ada district cowardly power-washed away the chalk drawings, just as they’re trying to power-wash away the message and the controversy.
Marcus Myers, the district’s chief academic officer, went on some obscure local podcast to explain the district’s weak position.
Myers said he told Inama to remove the signs because they violated Idaho’s Dignity and Nondiscrimination in Public Education Act, as well as school policy, which requires signs to be “content neutral and conducive to a positive learning environment.”
What could be more conducive to a positive learning environment than telling students they’re welcome here, regardless of their skin color?
%20(1).jpg "IMG_6875 (1) (1).jpg")
Inama said the posters hung in her classroom for the past four years, but something apparently changed recently. What could it possibly be?
Inama said she was told by administrators on Feb. 3 that her signs “don’t allow people to express differing opinions, that it is controversial in today’s political environment,” according to previous Statesman reporting.
In today’s political environment? Meaning the inauguration of Donald Trump as president just two weeks earlier and the scrubbing of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government and the threat of defunding anyone who disagrees?
The “anti-woke” message from the top now means that a schoolteacher’s simple message to her students that “Everyone is Welcome Here” is somehow a controversial opinion. And what’s the opposing opinion? Not everyone is welcome here?
Inama deserves great credit not only for going public with her story, but after initially removing the posters from her classroom when told to do so, she had a change of heart and put them back up.
That’s the kind of “good trouble” that the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis was talking about.
Rather than shy away from the issue, the Boise School District came out strong and loud, posting on social media teachers and staff members wearing the “Everyone is Welcome Here” T-shirts.
“In our schools, everyone is welcome,” reads a post on the district’s Instagram page.
Borah High School, in the Boise School District, posted on its Instagram page photos of “All Are Welcome” chalk art surrounding the school with the caption, “It’s a beautiful day to be a Borah Lion!”
The school also posted a reel of several teachers and administrators wearing the T-shirt, with an admonition, “Put this T-shirt on and pose.”
That’s a much better way to respond to this kind of nonsense.
The difference between the two districts couldn’t be more stark.
One district wants to strip all messages of acceptance, welcoming and inclusion, while one district wants to make sure that no matter who you are, what the color of your skin is, where you come from, you are welcome and accepted.
One district is teaching its students that inclusion, acceptance and decency are politically controversial, while the other district is teaching its students to be welcoming and accepting.
Which district would you want your kids in?
I hope that the parents of the West Ada School District stand up and protect Inama, and that the West Ada school board does the right thing here.
If not, I’m sure the Boise School District would be happy to have a teacher who is courageous and compassionate and who would serve as a wonderful role model for its students.
