Following two San Mateo Union High School District Board meetings discussing the flying of the pride flag during June and October, the SMUHSD put up the pride flag in front of the District office on June 7. The Board of Trustees initially rejected flying the flag with a 2-2 vote. Trustee Greg Land was absent during the vote and the Board re-voted with him on June 4, resulting in its passing with a final vote of 4-1.
During the May 20 Board meeting, Trustee Robert Griffin worried about more flags being called to be raised by the community to represent other students if the pride flag were raised. His comment sparked backlash from many people. Griffin apologized for his words on June 4 during their meeting for the re-vote.
“I don’t know why it happened the way it did,” Land said. “We’re supposed to be allies to our students and want to promote inclusivity and make sure people understand that. I thought everything was going to go smoothly so I was really surprised that people were going to nitpick over policy issues. Since I wasn’t there, I called the president of the Board and insisted that we have an emergency meeting based on the fact that … I would break the deadlock.”
At the ceremony before the flag was raised, Deputy Superintendent Kirk Black read a proclamation that the Board created on behalf of raising the flag.
“The meaning of [the proclamation] is that we stand with our LGBTQ+ community and students,” Black said. “But it also says that although we have come a long way, there is still a long way to go, even in our district. We need to continue to educate people and correct our injustices. People are still people being persecuted, insulted and criticized for their identity so it’s great that we [fly the flag]. Many are looking for organizations to make an action item which the proclamation was [an example of] and I’m proud of it.”
Black believes hanging the pride flag on the District flag pole is significant.
“We have pride flags all over the District in classrooms, hallways and Zoom backgrounds and now we’re able to match all of that on our flag pole and it’s more visible there,” Black said. “The only things on the flagpole are the country’s flag, the state’s flag and now the pride flag, then possibly the progress pride flag in October.”
After the ceremony at the District office, the District provided administration officials from each high school in the SMUHSD a pride flag to hang at their school. Trustees who voted against raising the pride flag expressed concern about having to make public policy changes and facing student backlash. Principal Valerie Arbizu said that in order to prevent such backlash, Aragon will ensure that there are no hard feelings among students when they are back in the fall as the school will fly the flag again in October for LGBTQ+ History Month.
“We need to continue to educate people and correct our injustices”
“We have to do some work to make sure that people don’t feel like the flag is exclusive to others,” Arbizu said. “Anytime you reach out to more groups and try to include, some are going to feel excluded because it will feel like a balance of power has shifted a bit and I think that’s something that we’ll have to work through together. I can imagine some students who may have an emotional reaction and there may be a few people that are upset or angered by it, but I think most people will see it as a simple act of inclusion. The visual symbol of inclusion in the pride flag is more important than not [raising] it out of concern that a few people may be unhappy.”
The pride flag will now be raised at the District office and every SMUHSD high school during the months of June and October each year.
