Oak Grove District declines to fly the pride flag

The city of Sebastopol hoisted the progress pride flag above city hall, but a nearby school district demurred

The ever evolving pride flag. This version, known as the Progress Pride Flag, currently flies above Sebastopol City Hall.

By Mark Fernquest

June is Pride Month, and as you’ve probably noticed, organizations and cities around Sonoma County are flying the pride flag – in all its many iterations.

One of those iterations is the Progress Pride Flag, which Sebastopol hoisted above city hall on June 6. (See the video of the event here.)

The Progress Pride flag was created by Daniel Quasar in 2018. It features black and brown stripes to portray marginalized LGBTQ+ communities of color and baby blue, pink and white to include transgender people. The arrow shape of trans and marginalized groups represents both progress, forward movement, and how far they’ve yet to go to reach parity. 

Not everyone is on board with flying the pride flag on public buildings.

“The Oak Grove Unified School District board of directors voted down a request by LGBTQ+ students, staff, and parents to display a Pride Flag during Pride Week,” said Oak Grove parent Tim Woolcot.

In fact, they voted it down twice.

“In January 2023, there was an agenda item to fly the Progress Pride flag daily alongside the US and CA flags, which was not approved,” OGUSD Superintendent Amber Stringfellow said. “An agenda item request to fly the Progress Pride flag on the pole for Pride Month was then raised again in May 2023. Agendas/Minutes are posted on our website.”

The Oak Grove Union School District encompasses West Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and Graton, and consists of two schools, Oak Grove Elementary (TK-5) in Graton and Willowside Middle (6-8) school in West Santa Rosa. More than 800 transitional kindergarten-through-eighth-grade students attend both campuses

“While the OGUSD Board is firmly committed to create and nurture school environments that are welcoming for all students, the decision of the majority of the Board to not fly the Progress Pride flag centered on the lack of a broader policy discussion to wave flags other than our National and State flags and what that might imply in other situations,” Stringfellow said. “Board members made clear that the Progress Pride flag could be proudly displayed throughout our schools, in classrooms and gathering areas. Flying only our National and State flags on our school flagpoles at this time satisfied the majority of the Board.”

Stringfellow further reported that two board members — Lesley Jones and Chris Topham — voted in favor of flying the Progress Pride flag in June and that three members — Board President Erin Lagourgue, Stephen Smilie and Anita Ortega — voted against the motion.

Regarding the reason behind the Board’s decision, Stringfellow said, “Although the minutes from the May 10, 2023 meeting have not yet been approved, a concern was raised at the meeting that the Board did not have any policy in place concerning how it should consider requests to officially fly other flags along with the US and State flags on the school/district flag poles but it was also noted that there were no objections to the Progress Pride flag being flown in other areas of the schools.”

“As a parent of two students in the school, I’m really disappointed by this,” Wolcott said, “and overall I feel the board doesn’t represent the culture of the school or the community it serves.”

OGUSD Board meeting agenda and minutes can be found at www.ogusd.org/Page/415.