Grain Valley School Board has stickers removed that indicated safe space for LGBTQ students

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - The Grain Valley School Board has directed administration to remove stickers and cards that some high school teachers put up “to signal students could feel safe approaching them regarding personal LGBTQ questions.”

A statement from Grain Valley Schools said this happened after the School Board “received a concern” about the cards and stickers.

Stickers such as the ones being described are generally called “safe space stickers.”

The statement from the school district goes on to say that its goal is to have “every classroom be a safe place for all students, not just in classrooms where teachers choose to display a particular sign.”

The full statement from the school district is below:

Classroom Signs To Be Removed

The School Board recently received a concern about the display of cards and stickers by some high school teachers to signal students could feel safe approaching them regarding personal LGBTQ questions. The Board directed the administration to have the cards and stickers removed.

Our goal is for every classroom to be a safe place for all students, not just in classrooms where teachers choose to display a particular sign.

We remain committed to providing professional development to help our staff create a safe, collaborative, and inclusive environment, consistent with our core beliefs, where each student feels a sense of belonging. The use of these cards, however, is determined to not be an appropriate step at this time.

Many parents turned to social media to voice their concern over the district’s decision.

One mother wrote that she is “literally so grossed out” by this decision.

Someone on Facebook wrote:

Another commented:

KCTV5 News asked the district questions about policy, and what teachers can and cannot post when it comes to other things like politics. It has not yet responded.

We will update this page when we get a response.

Update

On Tuesday, Grain Valley Schools shared the following statement that was sent to parents, students, and staff in the afternoon.

We appreciate the comments we have received since communicating the decision to remove safe place cards and stickers from high school classrooms. The feedback will help us be better.

An inclusive environment is essential, including for our student LGBTQ community. We recognize there is important work ahead of us to ensure an inclusive school environment.

In the upcoming weeks, we will host listening sessions for our community stakeholders, so our students, families, and staff have an opportunity for dialogue. School board members and the administration will participate. We will use this input to drive the action that will follow so that together we become the school district our community expects.

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