A Tennessee school board unanimously passed a rule stating the American flag and the State of Tennessee flag can only be displayed in their school buildings and classrooms.
The Tullahoma City Schools Board of Education voted this week to prohibit all “political, cultural, or personal” flags from being displayed in school buildings and classrooms unless “directly related to the curriculum or other school-sanctioned event or program.”
Under the new rule, banners, pennants, and digital signs are considered flags.
School organizations, sport teams, and clubs “must submit for exceptions to display any flags connected to their team, club or organization,” the new rule says.
If someone is trying to get an exception to the new rule, a person will need to write a request to the “principal/designee for consideration.”
When a request is submitted, the requester will need to show a “clear image of the flag or other display,” with a justification as to why this flag should be allowed to be shown, as well as how the flag is connected to “club, organization, team or classroom.” Furthermore, the requester will need to provide information about how long the flag will be displayed.
Even if the flag is approved, the new rule allows for it to be revoked if it causes “significant or material disruption” during the school day.
The new rule also says school workers will “ensure compliance with this policy and address any violations promptly and appropriately.”
Board Member Rosie Graham said the policy decision “did not come lightly” and had been worked on “quite a while.”
She called the new rule a “comprehensive policy” that “doesn’t just say we’re going to put up two flags and two flags only.”
All areas of the school district, including elementary, middle, and high schools, were represented during the policy discussion, Board Member Gigi Robison noted.
She added that a “great deal of careful consideration” was put into “a policy that will work and be beneficial for our school system.”
At the hearing, many community members spoke in support and opposition to the rule change.
A supporter of the rule change, Daniel Barry, said the question at hand was whether the school district “wanted a learning environment” that brings together its students or “one that divides by ideology.”
“Our schools exist to educate, not to advocate. Every student, regardless of background or belief, should walk into the classroom that’s focused on learning,” he stated.
Barry noted when a classroom displays a “Pride flag, Trump flag, or religious symbol,” it is no longer a neutral space.”
“It sends a message that one belief system has institutional approval over another,” he stated.
The Tennessee and American flags represent everyone who was at the meeting, Barry stated. He added that these flags were the only flags that unite all students and families together.
“Once we allow one cause flag, we have to allow them all. We can’t say yes to one movement and not to another. That’s not sustainable and its not fair,” Barry said.
Flags “don’t create safe spaces” or “stop bullying,” according to Barry.
“Accountability, good leadership, strong policy, and mutual respect, that’s what keeps kids safe,” he noted.
An opponent to the rule change, Avery McClean, who graduated from a local high school last year and is a part of the LGBTQ community, said the “Pride flag is not political.”
“Anyone’s gender or attraction identities are not political. If we ban the rainbow flag from classrooms, where does it end?” she asked.
McClean asked the board members if students would be allowed to wear “rainbow dresses” or if teachers could “no longer wear cross necklaces.” She also questioned the political flags students have on their trucks and wondered if those would be banned as well.
“Tullahoma is not a monolith,” she stated, adding that LGBTQ students have and will continue to exist in the school system.
“Do not take away some of their only safe spaces,” McClean noted.
Pride flags don’t “interrupt or distract from learning more than any other flag,” she stated.
In 2024, the Tennessee General Assembly considered a bill that would have allowed only the American and Tennessee flags to be flown in schools, but it did not become law.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at zschmidt1717@gmail.com.
