Hollidaysburg Area School Board tables policy regarding political activities

The Hollidaysburg area school district school board met this evening for their regularly scheduled meeting , however many people still showed up to voice their opinions about the new policy attempted to be passed after a controversial book was brought into class by a teacher.

The school board passed the second reading of their adult student boundaries policy but voted to table the policy regarding political symbols and activities stating that further discussion will be needed.

Residents spoke about their concerns regarding the vague terms of the policy that could potentially lead to discriminatory actions that would end up hurting students.

“This policy will eventually hurt students where students won’t know who is their trusted adult in the building that sees their viewpoints and wants to help them through the problems that they’re having," said Mike Rawlins, President of the Hollidaysburg Area Education Association.

The policy only allows 'non-prominent, inconspicuous displays' of what the school board calls 'particular viewpoints on political, sociopolitical, and/or religious topics.'

Another school district in Pennsylvania is already being investigated by the office of civil rights for a similar policy.

We’ve seen other districts across our commonwealth implement a very similar policy to this which is up in quite a few lawsuits," said Rawlins. "That’ something Hollidaysburg really doesn’t need. Without careful thought, deliberation and it’s certainly nothing that needs to be rushed into as a knee jerk reaction to something.”

The school board will continue their discussions during the policy committee meeting on January 25th.

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