Sometime between last spring and the start of the 2024-2025 school year, LGBTQ+-affirming posters and cards were removed from the hallways of Mentor, Ohio, Public Schools at the request of two school board members.
The materials were from the Safe Space Kit, the ally education program of national nonprofit LGBTQ+ youth advocacy organization GLSEN. The flyers and cards say “PRIDE ALLY” in rainbow colors with a small “Safe Space” logo, and the website for GLSEN displayed in a small font.
The request to remove the materials came last April from School Board member Annie Payne. Payne and fellow board member Rose Ioppolo objected to the school’s support of an April 12 “Day of (No) Silence” recognizing LGBTQ+ youth who have not been able to speak up or come out because of harassment and discrimination. According to emails obtained through a Buckeye Flame records request, Payne took photos of the posters and cards and cited a school policy that prohibits promoting the interests of any nonschool agency or organization without approval.
Mentor Public Schools Superintendent Craig Heath then ordered the removal of the Safe Space materials.
Payne and Ioppolo also requested the school stop allowing students to participate in GLSEN’s Day of (No) Silence and from distributing or selling pronoun buttons and stickers.
Students honoring the Day of (No) Silence, also called Day of Silence, go a full school day without speaking (except when asked to speak by their teacher).
In an email to Heath on April 11, Ioppolo called GLSEN “a controversial activist organization that is known as anti-parental rights with their ‘click 3x to exit’ instructions for minors viewing their site.” “Click 3x” refers to a feature on GLSEN’s site that allows viewers to close the site quickly. The purpose is to allow someone viewing the website to easily exit if they are browsing the site from an unsafe place.
“Allowing students to protest anything during the school day violates policy, and is a complete disruption of the day,” Ioppolo wrote.
Payne and Ioppolo reiterated in a written statement to The Buckeye Flame that the GLSEN signs violated school policy. Payne compared the removal of GLSEN signs to the school enforcing its cell phone policy after a “previous lack of enforcement.”
“Although our board may have differing opinions on various contentious issues, the commitment to uphold existing policies remains a shared priority,” she wrote.
GLSEN Executive Director Melanie Willingham-Jaggers called the removal of the signs “not just concerning—it’s a direct reflection of the homophobia and transphobia that still pervades our educational institutions.”
GLSEN is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, “not a political organization,” said Willingham-Jaggers in a statement. The signs are part of the GLSEN Safe Space Kit designed to “support and empower students.”
“All students should feel safe at school, and we stand firm in our mission to ensure that every student has the right to a safe and affirming learning environment,” she added.
According to Superintendent Craig Heath, the Safe Space cards were replaced with handouts made by the school’s PRIDE Club. A school spokesperson provided a photo of a PRIDE Club flyer that said “A Safe Space For Everyone.”
Day of Silence
In March, the yearly preparation for the GLSEN Day of (No) Silence was underway with no storm clouds in sight. Mentor High School counselor Cindy Gomori sent an email to school staff informing them of the upcoming observation, which the students have observed for 17 years. On April 9, Ioppolo and Payne received a message from Susan Sedenik, asking if they knew whether “our public schools were recognizing or ‘celebrating’ this Day of Silence” on April 12.
Payne replied that the Day of (No) Silence was “definitely an area of controversy” for the school district.
“I have included Craig to see if it will be encouraged again this year,” she said, referring to the superintendent.
Sedenik also asked if pronoun buttons would be sold.
“It was definitely an area of controversy last year and I anticipate it will be again, if we choose to allow the sale of the buttons this year,” Payne replied. “I was told last year when I inquired, and expressed concern, that we allow this every year and the high school principal Mr. [Jason] Crowe approved of it.”
During the email exchange, Gomori, the principal and other staff were workshopping the morning announcement for the Day of (No) Silence. After the message was broadcast, Ioppolo replied to the resident to say that the GLSEN Day of (No) Silence was being observed.
Sedenik was “very disappointed,” she wrote in an email to Heath.
“This year it looks like it is not really a Day of Silence but to rise up and take action,’ which to me makes it clear this is grooming kids into activism while they should be studying academics, at least in the school setting during school hours,” Sedenik wrote.
Sedenik said she would encourage her neighbors and friends to protest by keeping their kids home from school during the Day of (No) Silence.
Payne then asked Heath whether he thought selling pronoun buttons was an action that was “right down the middle.” It was a reference to a comment Heath made in a Washington Post article about selecting curriculum without leaning “significantly left or significantly right.”
“Having an announcement made to all students sets precedent for any other Day of Silence that students may want to participate in, and are we ready to allow other days of silence as well that may be controversial?” Payne wrote on April 11.
The Day of (No) Silence was the following day. Ioppolo wrote an email directed at Heath that she sent to the schools’ chief finance operator and other school board members.The email accused administrators of ignoring school policy recommended by Neola, a private educational consulting firm that provides policy templates and guidelines to school boards in six states, including Ohio.
Ioppolo asked why the school was “ignoring (policy section) 9700 Relations with Special Interest Groups,” and called GLSEN a “controversial activist organization.”
“Allowing students to protest anything during the school day violates policy, and is a complete disruption of the day,” she wrote “Explain to me why some were told they couldn’t wear hats with the name of a former president while in Washington D.C., but others are allowed to wear a sticker promoting an organization that is not school-related?
“Why are teachers allowed to hand out Day of Silence stickers at school? This also violated the dress code. If we allow this, are we going to allow staff to hand out crosses and rosaries or stickers with Jesus or Buddha on them?”
The superintendent is required to review organizations to see if they adhere to Neola policy. Heath said GLSEN “(fell) into the categories that are defined in the (Neola Policy),” though he did not explain further.
“GLSEN is in violation of that policy”
On April 11, Superintendent Craig Heath emailed Principal Crowe and asked for the reference to GLSEN to be removed from the Day of Silence announcement immediately. The students will not be selling pronoun buttons or stickers “or whatever they were,” he added. In an email to The Buckeye Flame, Heath said the buttons and stickers were handed out by students.
Going forward, Heath said he would reinforce the special-interests policy with school staff at the end of the spring semester and reinforce it at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.
“If you are aware of any other Special Interest Group connections that may be present in our schools, please let me know and I will investigate them,” Heath said.
Payne asked whether the GLSEN Pride Ally and GLSEN Safe Space signs would be removed, too, as they’re “all over” and she’s had “many complaints from teachers and (substitutes).”
Board President Maggie Cook agreed with Heath’s decision to remove references to GLSEN, but expressed disappointment in how the policy concerns were raised over email rather than at a board meeting.
Board Member Lauren Marchaza was “struggling to understand how students wearing stickers would be in violation of the dress code.”
During a public Board of Education meeting on July 3, Payne brought up the GLSEN references again. Cook asked how to define an “outside political source.” Heath said it would be “any non-school agency or organization, public or private” – not just political organizations.
Mentor High School isn’t the only instance of GLSEN materials being removed, said GLSEN spokesperson Madison Hamilton. Boards and administrators across the country have made similar moves.
“Our Safe Space Campaign, which aims to place a Safe Space Kit in every middle and high school in the country, underscores the importance of supportive educators in creating positive school climates where all students feel safe,” Hamilton said. 🔥
IGNITE ACTION
- GLSEN provides LGBTQ+ resources through their Safe Space Kit, professional development sessions, and more. Click here for more information.
- If you are a young LGBTQ+ person in crisis, please contact the Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor.
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