One year later Democrats have taken control of the Pennridge school boardThe new board is set to repeal a controversial policy that banned staff “advocacy” in classrooms, including pride flags.

At a meeting earlier this week, the board voted 5-3 along partisan lines to repeal the policy, which was adopted in 2022 under a Republican-majority board. He prohibits staff from pleading “personal beliefs regarding politics, society, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity” in the classroom.

But the turnaround isn’t final: The issue now returns to the board’s policy committee, where the board chairman suggested some changes would likely be made.

The vote is also unlikely to put an end to the quarrels within the Bucks County district, which continues to face criticism over the removal of library books and rules regarding restrooms that transgender students can use.

“It is painfully obvious that the legacy of extremism is not a thing of the past,” Laura Foster, a Pennridge parent and advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion policies, told the board during of its meeting on Monday.

Here is the Pennridge School Board’s position on a number of hot-button issues:

Repeal of advocacy policy

Pennridge is one of several area districts that fell under Democratic control in last year’s elections and were the center of culture war battles. But it evolved more slowly than some of its peers, like Central Bucksby repealing the policies of his predecessors.

However, like Central Bucks, Pennridge is now set to reverse its advocacy policy and return to its original version specifying only that staff cannot engage in “political activities” at school. (This version, which mirrors that in a number of other districts, states that it is permissible to study politics and discuss political issues in class.)

The advocacy bans are “a vague policy,” said Ron Wurz, chairman of Pennridge’s board of trustees. Wurz was initially elected as a Republican, but was re-elected last year as a Democrat after disagreeing with the hiring by the former school board of a curriculum consultant linked to the conservative educational movement.

Under this policy, “teachers might be uncomfortable,” not knowing how they are allowed to support students, Wurz said.

By maintaining that the advocacy policy must be maintained, Republicans expressed concern about teachers flying pride flags. Some board members said teachers who did not have flags displayed were perceived as not providing a “safe space.”

“If we’re going to allow this, we have to allow everything,” including “pride flags,” Republican board member Ricki Chaikin said at a policy committee meeting earlier in October. Another member, Jordan Blomgren, warned against teachers grooming children — comments that drew pushback from Democrats. “This has nothing to do with advocacy or politics,” said Bradley Merkl-Gump, a Democrat on the board.

At Monday’s board meeting, Blomgren noted that the board received an email from the group Gays Against Groomers, calling on it to maintain the current advocacy policy. (Democrats on the board noted that Gays Against Groomers has been designated an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for “dehumanization.” anti-trans rhetoric. “)

In deciding to readopt the district’s old policy that only prohibits political activities, Wurz, in an interview, said the board could revise it to also include religious rights advocacy. Some Republican board members expressed concerns about teachers’ anti-Christian remarks.

No more book deletions

The current board has already repealed the Republican-favored library book policy, which banned “sexualized content.” But some community members have expressed frustration that books are still being removed from library shelves.

The district announced earlier this fall that its high school librarian reviewed 22 books removed from library shelves during the 2022-23 school year: deletions which were not publicly announced at the timebut administrators acknowledged that it was a response to the ban on sexual content.

Even if the librarian has determined that six of these books should be returned to the libraryit withdrew 14 others and sent two back for review by a review committee.

The district also removed 11 other books and graphic novel series from library shelves based on challenges submitted this school year — some due to the previous policy banning sexualized content. But others were removed and deemed inappropriate under the new policy adopted in September by the Democratic board.

At the October policy committee meeting, Leah Foster Rash, a Democratic board member, said she was concerned that book withdrawals were “disconnected” from what students wanted to read and that the district might be missing opportunities to pique children’s interest. .

“These are books that our librarians feel are not age-appropriate for our students,” Wurz said at Monday’s school board meeting, providing an update on the board’s progress toward policy changes. He said it was “now time to let our professionals handle any issues that lie ahead.”

Bathroom Policy

The board also faces criticism over its bathroom policy. While Democrats repealed the previous board policy that required students and staff to use the restrooms based on their sex rather than their gender identity, they replaced it with regulations distinguishing between bathrooms for “biologically” male or female students, and others for students identifying as male or female .

This distinction remains discriminatory, according to a federal complaint who accuses Pennridge of having created a hostile environment for students of color and LGBTQ students. The complaint was initially filed in November 2023 but updated in August with new allegations.

Foster, co-founder of the RIDGE Network, one of the groups that filed the suit, noted Monday that queer students “still face restricted access to restrooms”; Critics say limiting transgender students to “gender identity” or single-use restrooms can force them out. She demanded that the board address the “climate of racism, homophobia and transphobia” persisting in the district.

Wurz told community members Monday that “there will be compromises.” In an interview, he rejected the assertion by some that the board was “giving way to the right.”

“The majority of people believe that solutions should be approached with a balanced approach,” he said.