NHCS deletes Pride Month post, cites new policy for reasoning
WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - A post celebrating Pride Month has since been deleted from New Hanover County Schools’ social media after it was posted on Monday, June 3.
The post originally read, “As we step into June, we are excited to celebrate Pride Month, a time dedicated to honoring and recognizing the diverse and vibrant LGBTQ+ community. We are committed to fostering an inclusive, supportive, and safe environment for all students, staff, and families.”
“Throughout this month we will be engaging in various activities and initiatives to educate and celebrate the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community.”
“We encourage everyone to participate, learn and show support. Let us stand together to celebrate love, identity, and the beautiful diversity that enriches our school district.”
WECT reached out to New Hanover County Schools to ask why the post was deleted.
The district responded with:
The spokesperson linked policies 3200 and 7300.
This comes after the NHCS board members passed policy 3200 Tuesday night, limiting what teachers can and cannot display in the classroom.
The policy has changed from when a school board committee recommended it late last month, originally recommending teachers and staff could display more items than originally proposed including family photos, student artwork and materials that represent other nations.
However, there are still some questions over what the policy pertains to.
“I believe that we are vague on the word displays. What’s the difference between flags and displays? What classifies a display? And we never really got to what that means. Does it mean social media? Apparently, it does, because we’ve had an issue about that this week. So I think that we need to be more clear on that,” said NHCS board member Stephanie Kraybill.
But the definition of display has never been clarified. Kraybill says simply implementing it will be difficult.
“Why do we put into policy things that we have no idea how we’re going to put into play? How are we going to enforce this in who is going to go into all the buildings and start yanking things down?”
She adds that the new guidelines go over the line.
“Attacking student artwork, to me is just appalling. I don’t know, I don’t know where any of this came from,” said Kraybill.
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