District Signage On Waukesha School Board Agenda

WAUKESHA, WI— The Waukesha Board of Education will discuss district signage during its meeting on Wednesday. The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Lindholm Building, Room 108, 222 Maple Ave.

James Sebert, superintendent of schools, told Patch there will be a discussion at the request of one of the board members.

"Dr. [Joe] Koch and I will be presenting and answering questions from the Board on the decision to remove signage from classrooms," he said.

The topic of signage caused a stir in August when district teachers were asked to remove what the district considered advocacy signs from classrooms.

The district sent a letter to educators in the summer outlining the decision and citing the need to keep personal beliefs and convictions out of the classroom.

Sebert said in the letter that the district needed to work with students to think critically about events in the world and work collaboratively to solve problems.

"Our classroom environments need to be engaging, reflect the curricular area being delivered and must be welcoming to all students. We need to ensure that what is posted in our rooms does not act as a barrier to any student, nor to serve as a divisive symbol among staff. Therefore, going forward, we are asking that all Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, Thin Blue Line, Anti-racist classroom, and any other posters or materials to the such, are removed from the learning environments,” Sebert said.

The letter also said the practice is consistent with the board policy about what it considered controversial issues in the classroom.

The Alliance for Education in Waukesha — a group of parents in Waukesha — created a Change.org petition that asks the district to reverse its ban on so-called advocacy signs such as the ones for the LGBTQ community.

As of Wednesday, it had more than 4,250 signatures.