Shenandoah County’s school board unanimously voted on Thursday to completely revamp its flag policy.
The July 11 vote was a decisive victory for the reformers with a 5-0 vote, reported The Northern Virginia Daily. The sixth member of the board, Brandi Rutz, was not in attendance. However, she had previously expressed support for the policy, which “prohibits any public school from displaying, or permitting any of its employees or agents to display” anything other than a set of pre-approved flags.
These flags include the American flag, the flags of the U.S. Armed Services and the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as local subdivisions of government like the school district and county. For special occasions, the policy states, “official flags of countries officially recognized by the United States may be displayed on a temporary basis in connection with an authorized school event.”
Shenandoah County’s school board recently made history by being the first in the nation to restore the names of Confederate generals to its schools after they were removed without public input during the social unrest that followed George Floyd’s death, The Dallas Express previously reported. Mountain View High and Honey Run Elementary’s names were restored to Stonewall Jackson High and Ashby Lee Elementary when the board voted to reverse the name changes in May.
The flag policy did not address the use of the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia or any other Confederate flag. However, it would appear the policy does not permit the use of any such flag as no local government entity presently flies it. A Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia used to be present in the Stonewall Jackson High logo, but it was removed several years ago, and the current board has not chosen to address the matter.
Currently, school policy allows Confederate flags to be displayed when necessary for historical context, such as a discussion on the Civil War.
School board member Gloria Carlineo shared a few remarks before the vote.
“I wish we didn’t live in such absurd times that require us to pass a policy like this. Yet, here we are. The truth is that 99% of our teachers have absolutely no need for this policy, as they have sufficient common sense to know what is appropriate in a classroom, but there is always that 1% that believe they have the right to impose their ideologies on their students and so it is our responsibility to act before it becomes a bigger problem,” she said, referring to the purported general tolerance for left-wing political symbols and activism in public school classrooms.
Fort Worth ISD has allowed teachers to put LGBTQ and Black Lives Matter flags on their school webpages while disciplining employees who called for the deportation of illegal immigrants on social media, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
As Carlineo explained, Shenandoah County’s policy is only intended to keep classrooms apolitical.
“Our schools’ purpose should be to educate our children, not to indoctrinate them. Unfortunately, the education system in our country has shifted its focus over the past few decades toward brainwashing and indoctrinating our children rather than educating them,” she said. “Our classrooms should be free of social pressures and political/ideological propaganda.”
The ethos of the flag policy was likewise reflected in the changes made to the decor and display policy, which states, “No classroom in Shenandoah County Public Schools shall use or allow any decor or displays that represent a political viewpoint, including, but not limited to, a politically partisan, racial, sexual orientation, gender, or political ideology viewpoint.”
Both the flag and decor policies have strict requirements. The flag policy requires that any flag flown be in a position subordinate to the American flag. The decor policy requires that decorations be related to school instruction. It gives an example that “foreign language classes or ESL classrooms may display flags, decor, and displays that correspond to the places of origin of the students in said classroom,” so long as that decor does not conflict with any other part of the policy.
The policy states it does not “limit the ability of a private individual to express private speech or viewpoints or exercise rights protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution in a manner that does not violate the Sections above or other SCPS policies or regulations.”