Every Student Belongs bill moving ahead

In December 2016, an African American student in a Clackamas-area high school returned to her classroom seat. She found drawings of a hanging noose and a robed Ku Klux Klan figure in her notebook and textbook.

In November 2017, a student in the North Bend School District wore a hat displaying the Confederate flag in school. Another student saw the hat and objected. Racial insults and threats were exchanged, and a fistfight ensued. After the superintendent banned symbols of the Confederacy (flags and clothing) from the middle and high schools, community members held a peaceful protest nearby displaying the Confederate and American flags.

In October 2019, a group of Lebanon teenagers attended a haunted barn fundraiser wearing blackface. They took a photo and captioned it with a racial slur.

These are just three incidents among many presented to the Oregon Department of Education as testimony to demonstrate the need for the “Every Student Belongs” legislation, HB 2697.

Every Student Belongs would create statutory bans in schools against three specific symbols of hate: neo-Nazi symbols, the noose and the battle flag of the armies of Northern Virginia, commonly referred to as the Confederate flag. OSBA supports these prohibitions, which arose last year when the State Board of Education passed a new state rule requiring that districts create policies banning such hate symbols by Jan. 1, 2021.

OSBA has provided sample policies for schools to use in implementation.

Yes, this is a prohibition of certain symbols and certain speech. And we do not endorse restrictions on speech lightly. It is important to recognize fundamental individual rights of speech and expression, and to recognize that no one abandons rights when they enter school grounds. But these three types of speech fall outside these protected rights. They exist only to cause harm. Harm to students, harm to schools and harm to communities. The very utterance of this speech will incite reactions, like arguments and fights, that disrupt learning. The Oregon Department of Education has done extensive documentation and outreach to demonstrate just how harmful and disruptive this speech can be. For those reasons we support these prohibitions.

It is crucial to know that this law started with a request from a student. This student, who has requested anonymity, wrote to Gov. Kate Brown asking her to ban the Confederate flag from schools.

“Banning the Confederate flag” the student wrote, “is far more than just an act to please some people. It shows students and educators that the State of Oregon sees them in their struggles to be considered equal and aiding in the fight against racism.”

Heeding student voices is a vital consideration for all of us, and especially for school board members.

The bill is scheduled for a work session today, Monday, May 10, in the Senate Education Committee. It will likely get a vote of approval and thereafter continue in the legislative process. If it becomes law, all school districts will have to adopt policies to comply.

Most districts have already done so because of the State Board of Education’s action. But based upon an informal ODE survey, it seems that a few dozen districts still have not adopted such policies. If your district is one of those still waiting to adopt, please get in touch with our Policy Services team. We have the sample policies and the tools to help you. It’s a necessary time to make this move for Oregon’s students.

- Richard Donovan
Legislative Services specialist