ID: DEI Panic! Is Everyone Welcome Yet? (Spoiler alert: no)

Don't give the West Ada School District too much credit yet. If you read past the morning headline (W. Ada considers requiring ‘everyone is welcome’ signs at each school), you'll see that the district is in an indefensible mess.

The story started, of course, with a teacher who decided not to shut up. Sarah Inama, a 6th grade world civilization teacher at Lewis and Clark Middle School in the West Ada district, went to reporter Brian Holmes at KTVB with her story.

Inama was told by district admins to take down classroom signs. One said "everyone in this room is welcome, important, accepted, respected, encouraged, valued, and equal" and the other said "Everyone is welcome here." These, she was told, violate a district policy requiring neutrality. The Chief Academic Officer told her via e-mail that district facilities should respect others' differing opinions.

And it just got worse. Inama said she was told that the problem was not the message so much as the Everyone Is Welcome sign included graphics of hands in a variety of skin tones.

Inama took down the signs, went home, thought about it, and put the "Everyone is welcome" poster--the one with the multi-toned hands-- back up the next day. The district gave her till May to get rid of it. The other poster uses some colors of the rainbow, and we all know that rainbows are forbidden in classroom decorations.

Chances are you already knew most of that, because the story blew up nationally, letting the whole country see the shame of West Ada. The district is the largest one in Idaho, serving around 35,000 students. It's a big district to be doing something this dumb.

But they kept piling on the dumb. The day after Inama was on the Today show, the district issued a memo entitled "Ensuring a Consistent and Supportive Learning Environment." They decided to go with sports analogies. The Chief Academic Officer is a like a referee who enforces rules "to ensure a fair and level playing field." And there's this howler--

If one player decided to wear a different uniform, use a different-sized ball, or ignore the rules, the game would lose its structure, creating confusion and imbalance,

Then news this morning's report from BoiseDev that the Board of Trustees is considering making every teacher put up an "Everyone is welcome" poster-- just without those multi-colored hands. Responding to BoiseDev, a district spokesperson explained:

Regarding the Everyone is Welcome Here posters, the district determined that while the phrase itself is broadly positive, certain design elements have been associated over time with political entities and initiatives that are now subject to federal restrictions

Inama told Idaho EdNews, “That’s appeasing not a political view, but a bigoted view that shouldn’t even be considered by a public school district.”

EdNews asked the district spokesperson about concerns that removing the sign certainly seems like a racist move communicating that students of color are not welcome in the classroom. The response is pure baloney:

West Ada School District is committed to ensuring that every student feels safe, supported, and valued in our schools. The request to remove specific signage is not about excluding or marginalizing any group of students. Our policies are in place to maintain a neutral educational environment while upholding our commitment to inclusion, respect, and belonging for all.

The board has been emailing about signage and an "Everyone is welcome here" sign for every school--just one that doesn't have any visual display of some of those everyone's because, you know, some people think they shouldn't be welcome, or that welcoming them is a DEI violation.

In the meantime, Chief Academic Officer Marcus Myers has been responding to inquiries with a form letter that says in part

While we respect individuals’ rights to express their perspectives, it is important to reaffirm that this situation is not about limiting speech or expression but about ensuring consistency in our classrooms and maintaining a learning environment free from distraction. The district’s policies are designed to provide clarity and fairness for all teachers and students by establishing clear expectations for classroom materials.

Which is all kinds of baloney, because the one thing the district has not been is deliberately clear. I would guess that's because saying out loud "Do not do anything that shows Black and Brown students are welcome is too controversial, so don't do that" or "No non-white people on posters" or "No versions of rainbows ever."

This is anti-diversity policy in action. Don't acknowledge the existence of non-white people. Don't give the racists and bigots anything to complain about. Everyone is not welcome here, and you must never forget that (but you must also never say it out loud). West Ada is not the only place where it is district policy to say "Everyone is welcome here" (the district already has plenty of diversity diversity posters up), but do not live those words.

Myers also blamed the final decision on the lawyers. That's unsurprising on many levels, except that last fall the district was sued by the families of three students who alleged years of racial harassment and bullying.

God bless Imana for standing up. Who knows how many thousands of teachers have been through a similar experience but did not feel they could buck their local system. It shouldn't be that big a lift for districts to say "Everyone is welcome here" and then act, in all ways, like they mean it. That should be the bare minimum that anyone can expect from a school district-- not knuckling under to racist snowflakes.