Can trustees fire a teacher over a ‘welcome’ sign? Here’s what school boards do
Some changes are coming to school boards across the Treasure Valley.
School boards have governing authority over school districts and control over everything from school policy to curriculum and budgets. When voters go to the polls to cast their ballots for trustees, they are choosing the people who will represent them on the school board for years – in a position that can sometimes field controversy.
Earlier this year, the West Ada School District was thrown into the national spotlight after administrators told a teacher to take down a sign reading, “Everyone is welcome here,” that showed hands of different skin tones. Administrators said the sign violated a district policy, approved in 2022 by the school board, that classroom displays needed to be “content neutral.” The news spurred nationwide backlash and protests.
The incident also became a focal point of campaigns as candidates for the Nov. 4 General Election vied for spots on the West Ada school board, and challengers criticized incumbents for their role in the controversy. Though school board chair Lori Frasure won reelection, Meghan Brown successfully ousted an incumbent in another trustee seat after she ran on a platform that “everyone is welcome here.”
So what role do trustees play in shaping policies and personnel decisions?
Trustees determine school district policies
Trustees have final say over school districts’ policies and changes, which come before them during school board meetings. They discuss the policies, listen to feedback from the public and can request revisions or ask questions.
Administrators typically bring those policies forward. But the school board members are “the ones that are delegated to make sure that the community can weigh in on the policy, that the policy is meeting legal standards, that the policy is reflective of the needs of the staff and administration,” Quinn Perry, deputy director for the Idaho School Boards Association, told the Idaho Statesman.
Even if trustees aren’t drafting those policies, she said, it’s still “their policy, at the end of the day.” They are the people deciding whether to approve it. The policies also have to comply with state law.
In West Ada, trustees approved a revised policy in the summer of 2022 giving teachers new guidelines on what they could display in their classrooms. That policy said district facilities should be “content neutral” and “not a distraction to the educational environment.” At the time, a district spokesperson said the goal was to align its policies with updates to Idaho law and to make schools positive learning environments, according to previous Statesman reporting. That policy was cited earlier this year when a teacher was told to take down her “everyone is welcome” sign. The district has since doubled down on its display policies, after reiterating its “content-neutral” requirement and creating a more structured review process.
Trustees hold far less power in firing teachers
Former teacher Sarah Inama announced she would resign from the district after she was told she had until May to remove the welcome sign in her classroom, the Statesman reported. She wrote in a resignation letter that she couldn’t “align myself nor be complicit with the exclusionary views and decisions of the administration,” and in a previous interview with the Statesman maintained that the sign complied with district policy. She then took a job with the Boise School District.
A trustee also cited the policy when images that circulated on Instagram showed a poster with a rainbow and the message, “Everyone is welcome here,” with hands of different skin tones. Trustee David Binetti told a parent the signs violated the policy on content-neutral displays, according to previous Statesman reporting.
Though trustees weigh in on creating policies, they typically aren’t the ones enforcing the policies at schools. The school board ultimately votes on whether to accept new hires and resignations, but, most of the time, district administrators conduct the interviews and reviews on personnel decisions. Trustees normally don’t interview teachers and staff members, with few exceptions that include the superintendent.
The superintendent or another administrator could recommend firing a staff member to the board of trustees, explaining the allegations against that staff member, according to Idaho state law. That would spur a hearing before the board in which both sides present their cases and then the board decides whether to move forward with the termination. Board members typically don’t identify staff members by name in these cases and much of that discussion often takes place behind closed doors in executive sessions. The board must then make those decisions together.
“No school board member has any individual authority,” Perry said. “Only the board as a whole has that authority.”
Trustees can also set policies on hiring that govern how the administration takes those steps.
“Having a school board member bring a termination to the board would be what we would call a violation of the chain of command,” Perry said. “By nature, the board is there to provide that governance and oversight of the district, and is not there to make managerial decisions.”
If a board member raises a concern about a staff member and files a complaint, Perry said, that board member should recuse themselves from involvement in any decisions if it were to come to the board in an executive session.
Educators or contracted employees have due process rights for those decisions to go through the proper chain of command, Perry said.
Where West Ada trustees stand now
That chain of command is what new and veteran trustees will have to navigate as they assume their roles after Tuesday’s general election.
Frasure and Angie Redford were first elected in 2021 after making parental choice on masks and vaccines a central part of their campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frasure, who has chaired the board since 2022, won reelection for Zone 1 with about 54% of the vote over Dara Ezzell-Pebworth, who ran her campaign on “keeping schools welcoming for all.”
But Redford lost her Zone 3 election to Meghan Brown, who secured more than 61% of the votes.
Brown told the Idaho Statesman she thinks she won her race by a large margin because most voters in her zone agreed with her platform that “everyone is welcome here.” She said her victory signals to board members the importance of listening to their constituents on the policies and issues that matter.
Community members “are emailing them, and they are showing up to meetings and they are trying to be heard,” she said. Elections like these are “one way they are heard,” she said.
Superintendent Derek Bub congratulated Frasure and Brown on their elections.
“Lori’s experience and institutional knowledge, combined with Meghan’s fresh perspective and energy, will strengthen our shared efforts to ensure every learner in West Ada thrives,” he said in a statement.
Frasure did not respond to request for comment.
Newly elected trustees assume their roles in January and serve four-year terms.