At the Sept. 19 School Board Meeting in the high school’s LGI Room, Dyer resident Cherie True voiced her concerns about a sign in a classroom at the high school. The sign read “In this classroom we believe: Science is real, Black Lives Matter, Love is Love, Feminism is for everyone, Humans are not illegal, Kindness is everything.” She would not disclose the classroom or the subject where the poster was found.

   “These are public schools. People can find things offensive. Parents have a right to say what is being taught and what is being shown in the schools. I do find it offensive because I don’t think that my child should be taught this in schools. The first thing that it says on there is ‘We believe…’, so what you’re saying is my child, when they walk into the classroom, they have to believe what that teacher is putting on there,” True said.

   Dr. Larry Veracco, Superintendent, listened to her words and responded with his own perspective on the situation.

   “I don’t think people are instructing this stuff, Cherie. If those messages promote kindness, I’m all for it. If there are individual pieces in there that have alternate meanings that I’m not aware of then I’ll have to study that a little bit more,” Veracco said.

   True continued to question Veracco about the existence of classroom rules regarding what teachers can and cannot hang on their classroom walls and who decides what is considered offensive.

   “It doesn’t say that we’re talking about kindness. That is not what it says. It says what that person believes. ‘Science is real’? After the last two years of us being through COVID that is a very inflammatory statement,” True said.

   After the meeting and talking to the corporation attorney, Veracco put out a statement to all LCSC staff asking them to remove any political and religious images from their classrooms. During the week of October 10th, teachers across the corporation removed all decorations deemed religious or political, including pride flags, Black Lives Matter posters, and religious items.

 “Teachers’ decorations and other things in the school make students feel safer, more comfortable, more able to be themselves,” Jerry Maldonado (10) said. “Taking this away harms these students by showing them they can’t be themselves around anyone and closing them off. They can’t be who they are. They are coming into a world that is full of hate when we should be showing them that they are coming into a world full of safety and community.” 

   Some teachers went as far as stripping their rooms of all personal items. Certain students have struggled to adjust to this change.

   “I felt like the room was empty, 100%, and I felt there was less community. There isn’t much space for the LGBTQ community at this huge school and it’s hard to find a community that doesn’t judge you for who you are,” Anastasia Wynecoop (11) said.

   At the beginning of this page, you can access the portion of the Sept. 19 meeting live stream that this topic was addressed. Lake Central School Corporation’s decided course of action will be further discussed at the next school board meeting this upcoming Monday, Oct. 17. The meeting will be held in the Lake Central High School LGI room at 7 pm. Below is the link to the Oct. 17 school board meeting agenda.

https://lcsc.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Regular_Meeting_10_17_22.pdf