WAXHAW, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – LGBTQ+ students are speaking out against new changes to the School District’s policy. Sydney Satalino, UCPS Senior, led the charge against these changes at a rally in downtown Waxhaw on Saturday.
The Union County School Board recently approved revisions to their “Selection of instructional materials” policy. Teachers are now limited with the types of displays allowed in classrooms, as well as the contents of some reading materials.
Satalino, who graduates from Union County High School in just a few days, is disappointed the Board passed these changes.
“I felt excluded before these policies were put into place, so I can only imagine how hard it would be for a student to find out that their identity wasn’t accepted by the school board, of all things,” Satalino said.
Classroom displays are now limited to ones that represent the United States, the state of North Carolina, the school itself, or the actual curriculum the students are studying. As for the policy changes on books: it would remove any reading materials that are considered inappropriate with either sexual or graphic content. The policy also states books on controversial subjects need to include all points of view.
Madison Dufresne, a Senior at UCHS, hopes the policy gets revised to include LGBTQ books.
“If they want to prepare us for the real world, they have to include everything that is in the real world, and not just pick and choose,” Dufresne said.
On the other hand, Britney Bouldin, whose kids attend UCPS, is glad the school adopted these policy changes.
“It just keeps any of the divisive political and ideologies just you know, everyone can do what they want wherever they are in their own time, but at school, we need to be laser-focused on education,” Bouldin said.
Satalino hopes Saturday’s rally shows the Union County School Board that the LGBTQ community is not going away.
“I just hope that the future of Union County will be more accepting, more affirming, more loving and that students won’t have to have the same experiences that I did when I was younger,” Satalino said.
