VIDEO: Central Bucks Teachers Protest Controversial Advocacy Policy

DOYLESTOWN, PA — Dozens of teachers and students from Central Bucks School District protested outside two school buildings on Tuesday regarding recently-passed district policy banning teachers from advocating political and social advocacy issues in their classrooms, as well as displaying any associated partisan and social decor, including pride flags.

Dubbed Policy 321 on "Partisan, Political or Social Policy Advocacy Activities," the controversial policy was approved Jan. 10 during a 6-3 vote; but while proponents of the policy say it will bring neutrality and balance to the classroom, its opponents argue it will end up stifling free speech, as well as barring safe harbor symbols, such as pride flags, in an atmosphere where LGBTQ+ students often feel unsafe.

The demonstrations at Central Bucks High School East and Holicong Middle School Tuesday saw scores of teachers donning rainbow threads and waving pride flags in an apparent violation of the policy.

“How are we supposed to follow a policy that denies the humanity of our students?” Keith Willard, a teacher and Gay/Straight Alliance club advisor at Holicong Middle School, as well as the reported leader of the demonstration outside the high school, said Tuesday. “It’s unethical.”

🧵Today in the Central Bucks School District, a group of activist educators holding LGBTQ+ flags, held a protest over a recently passed policy that requires neutrality in classrooms.

They WANT their activism in the classroom. They aren’t even hiding it. pic.twitter.com/RmhvatZXxj
— Megan Brock (@MegEBrock) January 18, 2023

The policy leaves the fate of past district inclusion initiatives, such as The Rainbow Room - billed as a safe haven for local LGBTQ+ children and teens - completely unknown. Read more: State Grant To Fund Expansion Of The Rainbow Room In Bucks County

“Creating classrooms where students know they are valued and included lowers stress and improves cognitive function and leads to better outcomes," Board member Tabitha Dell’Angelo previously said of the policy. "Creating inclusive spaces, in part, means that students see themselves and one another reflected in positive ways in books, materials, displays, etc. The literature and research in this area supports including positive representations across identities, not taking them away. Let’s not create a policy that puts a barrier between what our instructional leaders know about what good practice is and what we are allowed to do for our students.”

Superintendent of Schools Abe Lucabaugh has since announced six voluntary town halls for faculty to address questions about the policy and its implementation. “It is not lost on me that this policy has engendered concern, uncertainty, and even fear,” the superintendent wrote in an email to teachers leaked to several news outlets.

Pennsylvania’s Education Law Center denounced the school board’s policy last week over social media, calling it a policy “that will further dehumanize and discriminate against gay, transgender and nonbinary students.”

“Policy 321 hides behind a pretense of “neutrality and balance,” but students in the district have offered eloquent testimony describing how they are hurt and stigmatized by the district’s choices to ban pride flags and to declare their identities political,” the group wrote in a statement. “The vague and overbroad Policy 321 will only serve to censor educators, driving more from the field, and prevent all students from respectful, enriching classroom discussions that prepare them for success as adults.”

The policy had gone through several iterations before the final vote earlier this month, with the school district taping law firm Duane Morris LLP in November for policy review after a federal discrimination complaint was filed on behalf of several students, per the Bucks County Courier Times. One draft, read in October, ultimately had five mentions of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” cut from the final policy, the outlet added.

Public meeting documents also show the district shelled out over $114,000 to Duane Morris for “legal services” in December.

"Feeling safe and included should not be political. A Pride flag hanging in a classroom shows unity, safety, connection and so much more," said CB student Emma Dickinson, speaking in support of the LGBTQ+ community, Patch previously reported. "When I see a Pride flag it doesn't tell me which political party they represent. It simply tells me that they care about their students."

pic.twitter.com/s10m1DPJuT
— Shannon (@okaneshan) January 19, 2023