An Idaho Teacher Refused To Remove An "Everyone Is Welcome Here" Sign From Their Classroom Despite Pressure From Their School District, And It's Sparking A Ton Of Debate
Following President Trump's anti-DEI lead, many school districts in red states have changed their policies about what messages are no longer allowed in the classroom, and it's become a slippery slope.
Well, an Idaho teacher has recently gone viral for defying her school district by refusing to remove two signs from her classroom walls. One sign says, "Everyone Is Welcome Here," and includes multi-colored hands holding hearts.
And another sign says: "In this room, everyone is welcome, important, accepted, respected, encouraged, valued, and equal."
Sarah Inama, a sixth-grade teacher at Lewis and Clark Middle School in Meridian, Idaho, has taught World Civilization for years and recently told KTVB News that she'd never received any criticism for her classroom signs — until last month.
"My building administration came to me during my lunch period and told me that they needed to be taken down by the end of the day," Inama said. "They told me that they were in violation of district policy because, in today's political environment, they're considered a 'personal opinion.'"
"Because I was told to take it down by the end of the day, I did so," Inama continued. "And the following few days, I was was just so unsettled by it. And so I went back into my classroom and put it back up. And I emailed my principal and said I just, 'I don't agree. I don't agree that this is a personal opinion. I think this is the basis of public education.'"
Inama said school officials followed up with her again. "They came to talk to me, and again, asked me to take it down, and I said, 'I'm not interested in taking it down.'"
Inama was then apparently sent an email by the Chief academic officer highlighting district policy that she was violating: "School property shall not be used by personnel for the advancement of individual beliefs. It is the desire of the District that the physical environment of District facilities be content-neutral, conducive to a positive learning environment and not a distraction to the education environment."
"While we respect individuals' rights to express their perspectives, it is important to reaffirm that this situation is not about limiting speech or expression but about ensuring consistency in our classrooms and maintaining a learning environment free from distraction," a statement sent to Today from Chief of Staff of Communications at West Ada School District said.
"'Everyone is welcome here,' especially since the poster emphasizes in regards to skin color, with the image of the hands, that is considered something that people have differing views on," Inama said, explaining her understanding of what the district communicated to her.
"I just feel like, as a teacher, and probably a lot of teachers share this sentiment, I would do anything to protect my students. I love all of them unconditionally. We protect them from danger. Quite literally would take a bullet for these students. And this is the one small thing I feel like I can do to speak out against this and stand up for them to protect them from being affected by racist sentiments affecting their classroom."
"I find it hard to grapple with the fact that the reason why this poster needs to come down is because there are people outside of our school that disagree with it."
In response to this news, students from Renaissance High School, located in the same town, protested the Idaho School District's decision in support of Inama, shouting, "Do your job!" to district officials.
According to Today, Inama has been notified that the signs must be removed by the end of the school year, or further action may be taken.
An official statement about the decision from the Chief of Staff from Communications at West Ada School District can be read in full here.
Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul, who is from Idaho, weighed in on Instagram, calling the decision "insane," and telling Idaho to "do better."
"They are trying to force this teacher to take down an 'Everyone is Welcome Here.' How sick is our country that this is a remotely controversial statement for a teacher to make to her students?" one person wrote.
"They should post a poster with the slogan 'Only some people are welcome' and see what the response is. Possibly, a poster that says, 'It is not the official policy of our school that all children are welcome,'" one person recommended.
"When the district starts trying to appease the racists, you know we're going down a very grim path," one person wrote in the r/Teachers subreddit.
Of course, not everyone is in support of the teacher's decision to keep the signs up. "Public schools are not a place for propaganda," one person wrote.
Still, Inama has refused to take the signs down despite possible repercussions. "There's no way I would be able to allow myself to just take it down and roll over to what I feel like they're asking me to do," she told Today.
You can watch Inama's full interview with KTVB News here. What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
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