A Texas teacher said at a school board meeting that if she cannot choose what posters and books to display in her classroom, she should not be made to “choose bullets,” alluding to an upcoming state law requiring armed security officers on every school campus.
The statement was made by Theresa Newman at a Conroe ISD school board meeting last week, the Texas Scorecard reported.
“If I am not professional enough to choose my posters and I am not professional enough to choose my books, please do not make me professional enough to choose who lives and who dies,” Newman said. “If I can’t choose posters and I can’t choose books, then don’t make me choose bullets.”
Sarah Blakelock, director of communications for Conroe ISD, told The Dallas Express the district is not investigating Neman, and no disciplinary action will be taken against her. Newman’s staff webpage is still active.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, some school systems are struggling to recruit enough certified security officers and police to guard their campuses. On Thursday, Dallas ISD’s board of trustees voted to seek an exemption to the law, coming up 167 officers short, mostly at elementary schools.
Under the exemption, school districts can empower employees to serve as armed school marshals or guardians. A spokesperson for Dallas ISD previously said that the district was not planning on pursuing such options.
Neman’s comments also followed a social media post written by Melissa Dungan, a Conroe ISD school board trustee. Dungan wrote:
“This is a poster representing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), which is anything but that. DEI pushes the narrative of ‘Safe Spaces’ which implies that the rest of Conroe ISD is not a safe space for all children. This should be completely unacceptable for CISD administrators, board members and all employees.”
Included in the post was an image of a rainbow with hands of different races underneath it and the caption, “Everyone Is Welcome Here.”
The post was flooded with hundreds of comments that alleged Dungan opposed messages of racial inclusion in classrooms, and fellow Conroe ISD school board trustees criticized her at a meeting earlier in the month.
“Just so I understand, you are seriously suggesting that you find objectionable, a poster indicating that all are included,” Trustee Stacey Chase said, per ABC 13.
Dungan did not respond to a request for comment.
