No Advocacy Signs In Classrooms: Waukesha Schools

WAUKESHA, WI—The School District of Waukesha is asking teachers to remove what it considered advocacy signs from classrooms when school starts.

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

“Our role is educator/teacher, not activist/advocate in the classroom,” the letter said.

James Sebert, superintendent of schools, 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.”

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

“We have worked with our board to understand our controversial topics policy to mean that staff can share professional opinions to enrich the classroom discussion, but must do so in a manner that individual political positions stay out of the classroom. In order to be successful in teaching students to think critically, we must work with our students to entertain multiple perspectives, while not being influenced by an adult to believe any one perspective is right or wrong,” the letter said.

Patch reached out to the district and several parents on Monday morning for comment on the issue. This story will be updated when Patch receives responses.