From Black Lives Matter signs to Pride flags, Minnesota school decorations caught in DEI debate

“Black Lives Matter” posters spurred a lawsuit in one Minnesota school district. Pride flags came down in others. Even “All Are Welcome Here” signs have raised eyebrows and drawn criticism.

Cultural divides over diversity and equity initiatives continue to ripple across Minnesota, with posters and other displays that advocates say are designed to instill a sense of belonging still drawing ire from opponents.

So as teachers across the state head into a new school year this fall, what they hang on the walls comes with a calculation of potential hassles from disapproving parents.

In June, the 8th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reinstated a case alleging that Lakeville Area Schools discriminated against parents critical of district-sponsored Black Lives Matter posters. Parents had requested but couldn’t get alternative Blue Lives Matter posters installed.

Earlier this year, the 2024 Minnesota legislative session timed out without a House vote on a bill that would prohibit the banning of rainbow flags in schools and other government buildings.

Asked last week about the Lakeville case, statewide teachers union Education Minnesota shifted its attention, instead, to the kids.

“Schools should be places where all students are seen, valued and respected,” said David Aron, the union’s legal counsel. “It’s unfortunate that a far-right interest group would target a school district’s effort to demonstrate support for its Black students in the name of free speech.”

A Lakeville schools spokesperson confirmed last week that the Black Lives Matter artwork, approved by the district, still adorns the walls.

The Upper Midwest Law Center, a conservative nonprofit law firm that represents the Lakeville parents, said the district “cannot put its thumb on the scale” in favor of Black Lives Matter activists.

“Students are there to learn, not to be indoctrinated politically,” James Dickey, the firm’s senior counsel, added in an interview last week.

Dickey said the appeals court ruling has the potential to influence district action elsewhere to remove posters or make room for those with alternate viewpoints — a prospect that concerns Hannah Edwards, director of Transforming Families Minnesota, which offers services to the LGBTQ community. She knows teachers who’ve been cautioned against putting up rainbow posters or addressing students by preferred pronouns.

“Not every one of these stories ends up being school board level or newsworthy,” Edwards said. “But they are scared of these parents who are threatening to retaliate.”

To be sure, there have been headlines. The Worthington, Minn., school board voted to remove Pride flags from classrooms. Flags began disappearing in Bemidji in response to that district’s viewpoint-neutral stance on such displays. Several Anoka-Hennepin school board members threatened to hold up approval of next year’s budget due in part to concerns over matters relating to gender identity.

Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-St. Paul, the first openly transgender member of the Legislature, cited the action in Bemidji and Worthington as inspiration for a bill this year to ban rainbow bans — a proposal that advanced past the committee stage but never received a House vote because of what she believed would be a Republican filibuster as end-of-session deadlines neared.

During the bill’s committee hearing, Rep. Jon Koznick, R-Lakeville, said schools should be free of political activities. Finke countered that everything that might be considered political in nature then must be banned, adding in an interview last week: “You can’t single out the rainbow and remove it.”

Edwards said such signs and stickers are needed because transgender students like her daughter seek out “visual safety clues” to find teachers who want it to be known: “All students are safe in my classroom,” she said.

Finke plans to reintroduce the bill in 2025, and hopefully secure passage early in the session, she said, if DFLers remain in control of the House.

The Lakeville poster dispute dates to 2020 and began with district leaders initially telling teachers not to display Black Lives Matter signs because it violated the district’s goal of maintaining political neutrality. Months later, the district approved and paid for the printing of eight inclusivity posters — two of which had the slogan Black Lives Matter and the statement:

“At Lakeville Area Schools we believe Black Lives Matter and stand with the social justice movement this statement represents. The poster is aligned to School Board policy and an unwavering commitment to our Black students, staff and community members.”

In a filing last week seeking a new hearing before the full court, the district argued that school boards are “responsive to the electorate” and that taking a different stance on an issue at first “does not mean that it cannot later change its mind or adopt the speech itself.”

Dickey, of the Upper Midwest Law Center, said: “We’re pretty confident that the 8th Circuit is not going to review or rehear its decision in this case.” He is pursuing a settlement with the district calling upon Lakeville to return to a neutral position on all political matters.

And would that mean the posters have to come down?

“That’s part of our initial offer,” he said.