HASD weighs display rules

School board agrees to limit sizes on items promoting tolerance issues in classrooms

The Hollidaysburg Area School Board appeared to reach a consensus on a controversial policy debate surrounding size limits of posters and stickers depicting "messages promoting tolerance, kindness, support and inclusion" that are not explicitly part of approved district curriculum.

During a policy committee meeting this week attended by eight of the nine board members, agreement was reached that such postings should not exceed a standard letter-sized piece of paper. Emanuel Nichols was the only member absent.

The issue at hand: Policy 321 deals with political activity and aims to limit "coercive" or biased conduct by teachers in the classroom.

Earlier this month, the board was scheduled to approve the second reading of a policy drafted to address the "Gender Queer" controversy. Some members of the board, however, were not comfortable voting to adopt the policy without revising some language. The board ended up voting to postpone the decision.

Board member Doug Stephens, who had proposed postponing the January vote, was initially asked by other members of the board if the suggestion was just a "stall tactic."

"The main reason I felt it was not ready for a second vote is because it is a brand new policy that I think we pulled out as a reactionary policy," Stephens said Wednesday. "It's not a stall tactic at all."

Nicole Hartman said the policy was only being discussed to limit the support of the LGBTQ community in Hollidaysburg.

"The LGBTQ community, in large, is bullied much more often than those who are not in that community," Hartman said.

She said the real purpose of the policy was to go into all the classrooms and remove any pride flags.

"What message are we sending by taking (pride flags) down?" Hartman asked.

Carmen Bilek, who has been one of the main supporters of the policy and has spent a lot of time in recent weeks tweaking its wording and construction, countered, saying the only way to make every student in the district comfortable is to remove any sort of prominent symbol that supports one community and not another.

"If we want to create an environment where everyone feels respected and included, we keep it as neutral as possible," Bilek said. "By allowing a flag or a poster standing for a specific lifestyle choice, it can be misconstrued that a teacher who does not hang a similar symbol is excluding that group."

Throughout the discussion, one of the main points of disagreement was the lack of specificity in language. Terms such as "small" and "inconspicuous" required elaboration and definitions, according to Hartman and Stephens.

Initially Wednesday, Hartman said she would vote to approve the policy if "small" under section 3(e) of "Displays and Decor in the School Setting" was defined as "smaller than the American flag." When told that would be arbitrary because the American flag comes in various sizes and would vary from classroom to classroom, Hartman said teachers would not be allowed to have signs or displays bigger than the American flag in their individual classrooms.

Superintendent Robert Gildea said that likely would be too stressful for teachers and that it would be easier to have one uniform size/dimension as the guideline. He suggested the standard letter size of 8.5 by 11 inches as the limit in the code.

Hartman's only issue with that proposal was that it was so small that it may seem as if the district is trying to diminish the LGBTQ representation and support in the district.

Bilek and Jennifer Costanza said the district needed to be more concerned with the education of the students and not try to shelter them in bubble-like environments where they feel like everyone will always agree with their perspective or decisions.

"We're setting these kids up for failure in the future," Costanza said.

Gildea then interrupted the back-and-forth to get the discussion back on track.

"There's a philosophical difference here that will never be solved," Gildea said.

Almost every board member then verbally agreed to the 8.5-by-11-inch proposal before closing the meeting. Hartman wanted to make sure that teachers didn't feel like they were not trusted or that the board was stepping on their toes.

"I feel like we need to have a little more faith in our teachers' ability to decorate their classrooms," Hartman said.

In closing, board member Lonna Frye said she appreciated the dialogue that evening and was hopeful that teachers wouldn't feel overwhelmed by the new guidelines.

"I feel like we've kept things within boundaries that are fair," Frye said.

Gildea was grateful for the overall civility the board showed in the meeting, particularly since the topic had become heated between certain members of the board and also within the community.

"I think the board did a nice job of coming together and setting some realistic guidelines while still allowing for self-expression," Gildea said.

The board will meet for its next voting session at 7 p.m. Feb. 8 in the senior high library.

Mirror Staff Writer Nate Powles is at 814-946-7466.