The Durango School District 9-R Board of Education is moving forward with two resolutions supporting the display of Progress Pride and Black Lives Matter flags in classrooms. The board met for a work session meeting Tuesday night and discussed the resolutions, which have drawn backlash from the Colorado GOP.

Ultimately, the board decided to add a vote on the resolutions to the agenda at the next regular meeting on Jan. 28.

At the heart of the debate is government versus individual speech.

Brown

Vice President Erika Brown said the display of Pride and BLM flags in classrooms will be government speech under the resolutions, rather than individual speech by the teachers.

The board argues this will effectively null the Colorado Republican Party’s concern that the flags violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment laid out in a letter last month threatening to sue the school board.

“We’re actually choosing this based on our values, on our policies, on our programming, on our curriculum, and so if the public doesn’t like it, they can vote us out of office,” Brown said. “So that’s the remedy if people don’t like it.”

Board president Kristin Smith said the resolutions were reviewed by the district’s Inclusive Excellence Guiding Coalition, the Durango High School Black Student Group, the Straight Gay Alliance student group, and the  Durango High School Equity Team. The board also met in executive session on Jan. 9 with legal counsel.

“It is a scary time, especially for us right now, because a lot of our liberties — not in the state of Colorado— but a lot of our liberties, especially at the federal level, are being threatened, and we’re being told that we’re not human,” said student board member Tava Gilpin-Reynolds, who identifies as a part of the queer community. “So in any way that the district can support these students is incredibly important, especially now.”

Rick Peterson expressed the most concern about moving too fast on the resolutions and wanting more information.

“We are at the place right now in the interim where we want this district to be, as far as support and freedom, and as long as I still have questions or things I’m not going to agree to take it to a vote, and if someone else wants to push that, then they’re going to force my hand,” Peterson said. “But I want to make sure that we have all the information, that everyone has all our questions answered.”

Smith said she was surprised by Peterson’s pushback after weeks of discussion, but Peterson said his concerns only arose in the last few days. Smith, Brown, and Katie Stewart supported adding a vote to the agenda on Jan. 28. Andrea Parmenter said she was comfortable waiting to vote but she was not as forceful as Peterson.

There was no public comment at the work session, per board rules, but there will be public comment accepted at the Jan. 28 meeting.

The chain of events began last fall when the school board banned the display of Pride and BLM flags after a parent complaint. The ban was reversed after protests and public outcry. Last month’s GOP letter included false claims about queer students and trans students.

“I’m really disgusted by publications that have been put out recently by folks who are threatening to sue our school district,” Smith said. “The comments that they’ve made in there are egregious to me, and I would like to take a stand for our students as soon as possible.”

The Jan. 28 meeting will take place at the Impact Career Innovation Center (2410 Main Ave., Durango, CO) from 5:30 to 10 p.m.

RELATED: Colorado GOP Threatens to Sue Durango School District Over Pride Flag Resolution