An Idaho teacher clashed with her school district after it ordered her to remove two “controversial” classroom signs: one that reads “everyone is welcome here” above an illustration of handprints in different skin tones and another that says all students are “welcome, important, accepted, respected, encouraged, valued,” and “equal.” The fight started in January when the principal and vice principal of Lewis and Clark Middle School in Meridian, Idaho, said that her signs violated the district’s policy that classroom displays must be “content-neutral.” The sixth-grade history teacher, Sarah Inama, said that the message was critical to maintaining a positive and inclusive learning environment. She initially removed the signs before rehanging them and informing her principal, who warned her that doing so constituted “insubordination” that could result in further action. Despite threats to her career, Inama is holding her ground as other teachers across the country face similar experiences under the Trump administration’s push to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion from public education. “There are only two opinions on this sign: Everyone is welcome here or not everyone is welcome here,” she said. “The only other view of this is racist.”
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