On the first day of the new school year, Springfield Public Schools Superintendent Grenita Lathan and other administrators visited numerous campuses across the district, including Kickapoo High School.
There, all students received matching dark brown and sunburst gold shirts, the marching band and cheerleaders welcomed the freshman class of 2026 and the year kicked off with a raucous morning assembly and the first all-class group photo the senior class has ever been able to take part in.
Just off school grounds, two demonstrations bookended the Kickapoo school day. Both were held in response to the recent order to remove rainbow-colored Pride flags, a symbol of support for the LGBTQ+ community, from several Kickapoo teachers’ classrooms.
On Monday morning, Springfield’s PFLAG chapter members handed out about 100 Pride flags to students, as well as several stickers with the words “Safe space” and a series of interconnected hearts on them. Those stickers went to Kickapoo teachers who last week were told that Pride flags hanging in their classrooms violated an SPS school board that forbids representing their personal opinions as the opinion of the district.
Aaron Schekorra, president of the local PFLAG chapter, said the group’s effort was met by a predominantly positive response.
“Lots of honking and waving and cheers and people stopping and thanking us,” he said.
‘People's identities are not a political issue,' says PFLAG leader
PFLAG is a national organization comprised of LGBTQ+ people and allies. Schekorra pointed to recent research showing that young LGBTQ+ people who have supportive adults in their lives were 40 percent less likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year. He said he was disappointed in the decision to remove Pride flags from teachers’ classrooms, because having “a safe and affirming adult in their lives, especially if they don't have that at home, can have real tangible benefits to students’ mental health.”
In an email from Kickapoo principal Bill Powers that was obtained by the Springfield News-Leader, Powers wrote to the teachers: “It was recently brought to my attention that we should not be displaying the flags.” An email sent from the school district to all SPS educators last week cited school board policy in stating that personal political and religious views should not be espoused, condoned or opposed by district employees, adding that “support or opposition of social, racial or community movements is not necessarily political in nature.”
Schekorra said the Pride flag issue is not a political one.
“People's identities are not a political issue, and we want to push back on that narrative as much as we can,” he said. “Who we love and who we are is not political. And it's also really not a symbolic matter of opinion. It's about supporting all students, no matter who they are, and making sure that students know who they can go to for support if they need that support. Because going to the wrong adult could have negative impacts on their lives, especially if they're not out at home.”
Afternoon protest draws attention to issue at busy intersection
On Monday afternoon, about an hour before the final bell of the first day of school rang, protestors gathered on the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Primrose Street, just southwest of the Kickapoo campus grounds. Springfield drag artist Jimmy Anti organized the event after learning about the decision to remove the flags from teacher friends in the LGBTQ+ community. Jimmy Anti said the flag is not a negative or exclusionary statement toward anyone.
“It's just important for those kids to not feel despair, that they're loved,” they said. “As a SPS graduate, I know how isolating it can be to be a queer person, going to a Springfield high school. And beyond that, we are not just defending our position in the classroom, but we are demanding the space that we deserve, that all other groups are given in a classroom. We just want to make sure that queer teachers know that we've got their backs as well. Of course, we're supporting the students, but also teachers deserve to exist in wholeness in their classrooms.”
Spencer Stringer, who is transgender, said he attended the afternoon demonstration as part of a continued effort to make SPS schools a better place for minority students since he graduated from Central High School in 2019. A member of the SPS Equity and Diversity Advisory Council, Stringer said his efforts to advocate for trans and queer students were rarely acted upon. The decision to remove Pride flags from classrooms represents a step back from that.
“A Pride flag in a room is something so non-disruptive and casual,” Stringer said. “It's just colors showing I am a teacher that supports you. Kids that aren't queer, seeing (the flag, think): ‘Oh, this school teacher that I like, they express these opinions. I should treat my peers with respect the way they do.' And also kids that aren't safe at home, being able to go to that teacher and talk to them. This can be such a dangerous place when you're queer, and the idea of making it more dangerous is going to kill people.”
Policy cited in Pride flag removal scrutinized by demonstrators
Last week, SPS released a statement saying the district is “committed to equitable learning environments that equip all students with the support needed to achieve their full potential.” The statement added that the decision by Powers was in line with board policy.
Kyler Sherman-Wilkins, an assistant professor of sociology at Missouri State University who has at SPS school board meetings called for SPS to issue a statement of support for trans students, attended the afternoon demonstration. He said LGBTQ+ people look to the Pride flag as evidence of their inclusion, as opposed to their exclusion. The policy that the decision to remove the flag was based upon leads to a marginalized group suffering, he said.
“I think it's incumbent on the powers-that-be to ask the question, ‘Who does this policy really serve and does it do a role in actually protecting all students?’” Sherman-Wilkins said. “If not, the policy needs to be assessed and changed.”
Though he handed out flags and stickers at Kickapoo on the first morning of school, Schekorra said this was not a Kickapoo issue.
“This is not a single administrator,” Schekorra said. “This is not a single teacher. This is the entire district, and its impacts our entire community. So we want to focus on that larger picture, and what this means and could mean in the future of the school district.”
