Moses Lake School Board discusses, declines to pursue, flag policy

MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake School Board members decided not to pursue research on a possible policy governing the display of flags in district buildings.

Board members discussed the question briefly at the regular board meeting Thursday, following a request from board member Paul Hill. Board chair Kevin Fuhr said the board discussed it sometime last year and board members had asked district officials to research it, but other events intervened and the board never pursued it.

Hill said some districts in Washington have considered or adopted flag policies, some limiting displays to U.S. and state flags.

“I’m not saying that’s where we need to end, but I think we need some kind of flag policy in place,” Hill said.

Board member Shannon HIntz asked which districts had established flag policies; Hill said he didn’t have a list, but would get the information. Board member Susan Freeman said one had passed in Kennewick, but Hintz said it had failed on a reconsidered vote.

Fuhr said that personally, he would prefer not to pursue the question now, given the other challenges faced by the Moses Lake School District.

“Things right now with our district and staff, in my view and from what I’m hearing, are going really well,” Fuhr said. “We’ve got, obviously, some issues that we’re dealing with at the high school with security – the fight today, we’ve had some weapons offenses. I fear that if we start (discussing) a policy of flags, and we’re asking staff to police themselves, or asking administration to police staff, when we’ve got all these other issues, that we’re taking our eye off the ball when it comes to safety and security.”

Fuhr said he wasn’t opposed to talking about it in the future, but he didn’t think now was a good time.

“I don’t want to turn our staff against us,” he said.

He was in Moses Lake High School Thursday, he said, and saw a number of flags and banners representing colleges.

“If we start telling staff to take that down, I think we’re going to turn our staff against us,” Fuhr said.

Board member Alana DeGooyer said she believed that last year’s flag discussion originated in the concerns of a parent, and might not have come up otherwise. Hintz said she wanted district officials to focus on other issues, security and instruction among them.

“I think that we’ve gone through a couple of hard years, and we’re just now starting to feel like we’re above water,” Hintz said. “Things are going better, and I don’t want to stop that momentum.”

Freeman said she did a quick search of flag policies, and found a few nationwide.

“Almost every one of those articles contains the word ‘controversial.’ And I really feel like we don’t need to engage in ‘controversial’ right now,” Freeman said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.