LRUEMSD Board discusses flying BLM flag at schools

 

by Meghan Wayland

During privilege of the floor at the remote Lake Region Union Elementary-Middle School District (LRUEMSD) Monday night, five community members expressed concerns about flying the Black Lives Matter (BLM) flag at schools.  The action was proposed by substitute teacher, community member, and contributor to the Identity and Education Work Group Roderick Owens last month.

Kurt Labor of Irasburg said he didn’t think the agenda of Black Lives Matter was “an agenda the public schools should be pushing” because of what, he said, was the group’s connection to violence.  He suggested the district fly a flag with the words “liberty and justice for all.”

Irasburg resident James Webb associated the Black Lives Matter movement with Antifa and Marxism.

Mr. Owens said people were showing their privilege by “half-citing” what they believed to be true about the BLM movement and by making “frivolous” statements about what they thought fellow townspeople thought about flying the BLM flag at schools.

“Have you actually taken the pulse of the community?” he asked.

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