Sunol Glen Unified School District trustees have delayed a decision on the future of its superintendent who opposed a recent resolution limiting the display of flags to only the U.S. and California state flags.
The board passed the resolution 2-1 on Sept. 12 after an incident involving a vandalized Pride flag. Trustees on Wednesday held an emergency meeting to discuss Superintendent Molleen Barnes, who is also a school principal.
The meeting at the Sunol Glen School cafeteria was filled to capacity, with many parents and staff attending and overwhelmingly supporting Barnes and the LGBTQ community.
"Bullying is what is happening here," parent Sue Chau said.
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The superintendents of Alameda County and the Castro Valley Unified School District also weighed in at the meeting.
"We have a moral obligation to ensure that they feel welcomed, and valued, and supported at school," Castro Valley Unified School District Superintendent Parvin Ahmadi said.
The issue originally arose in June, when the Sunol Glen School flew a pride flag in celebration of Pride month. After some complaints, the school board president proposed a resolution limiting the display of flags.
The vote faced pushback from Barnes, who called the decision “disturbing” and has also said 90% of her staff were against the resolution.
Some parents have also pushed to recall the two school board trustees who voted to pass the resolution.
One of those two board members, Linda Hurley, has released a statement about her decision, writing, “My vote to fly only the American and state flags was not meant to disparage the LGBTQIA community but to legally protect our small school from legal action for breaking the Supreme Court Decision, Shurtleff vs. the city of Boston, October 2021.”
The Supreme Court case Hurley mentioned found that the city of Boston was in violation of the First Amendment because it allowed some groups to display their flags above city hall, but refused to fly a Christian group’s flag.
After all the commotion at Wednesday's meeting, the two board members -- another one was absent and was not allowed to join virtually -- came out of closed session to report no decision had been made about the superintendent or district lawyer, but did add the board will hire outside counsel to figure out what to do next.
Board President Ryan Jergensen declined NBC Bay Area's request for an interview.
