Proposal to limit types of flags voted down

Board accused of targeting LGBTQ

The Harford County Board of Education voted down a proposal that would have limited the types of flags and banners that can be displayed in county public school buildings.

The policy would have permitted only the American, Maryland and Harford County flags on public school property but would not have extended the ban to posters, stickers, art or other forms of expression.

“It is completely unfeasible. No matter what we do, it’s very vague, and there is so much leeway,” student board member Madina Sabirova said before the vote. “What’s the point of fretting over it right now when there are other things we should be worrying about.”

The board voted 6-2 against the policy. Board members Lauren Strauss and Diane Alvarez were the lone supporters.

School board Vice President Melissa Hahn, who had expressed public support for the flag ban in the past, said before the vote that she expected the board to table the policy for 30 additional days to allow time to add amendments. However, board member Wade Sewell called and board member Carol Mueller seconded a motion to vote.

Before the vote Monday, board members discussed tweaking the policy to ban flags for sports teams, colleges and universities, allow flags of foreign countries in language classrooms, allow flags of local municipalities, and assert that the ban does not apply to students’ clothing.

Though voting no, Hahn said she wants to bring an amended version back to the board later.

The proposed policy would have permitted the display of specific flags and banners used temporarily as part of an approved curriculum, scholastic recognition such as Blue Ribbon and Green School designations, sports tournament banners for school teams, and banners supporting colleges and professional sports teams. The policy also would have allowed flags of other countries shown in the common areas of a school building with the superintendent’s approval. Those could not, however, be “as large or as prominent as the current American flag.”

At a public hearing in February, speakers accused the board of targeting LGBTQ students and staff with the proposed policy, and some attendees referenced an email conversation from last year between Hahn and board member

Terri Kocher. In the emails, obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request, Hahn wrote that not having a flag policy “leaves that open for a principal to say, ‘sure you can put the LGBTQ flag up in your classroom.’ ”

At the hearing, Hahn cited several other flags that she says divide people, such as “a Christian flag, Trump flag or Biden flag, an Israeli flag or a Palestinian flag.” In an email to The Aegis, Hahn said she was using the LGBTQ flag as an example in her email messages to Kocher.