East Bay teacher facing controversy for showing off Pride flag, DEI books in 1st grade class
By J.R. Stone
Click here for updates on this story
PITTSBURG, Calif. (KGO) — A group of parents in the East Bay are angry with an elementary school in Pittsburg.
That first grade teacher at Heights Elementary School posted a video on social media showing her putting up a Pride flag in her room, then showing off the diversity, equity, and inclusion books in her classroom.
The video was posted after President Trump signed numerous executive orders impacting the trans community and DEI material.
Family members of kids at this school reached out to us about this story. The video that the teacher recorded did more than 10 million views when it was reposted by a political account on X, but that wasn’t why we looked into this. Family members were upset about the possibility of sexual orientation being taught to their first graders.
In the clip, you can see a still-image from the 12-second video that was posted by teacher Melanie Ramirez. She’s lip-syncing the words “speak out” in the video. In the beginning, she shows off her Pride flag in class, then some of the books in her classroom, and this poster saying, “We need diverse books.”
Parents told ABC7 News, they questioned whether these items – the Pride flag specifically – should be in the classroom of first graders. Regarding that, Pittsburg Unified School District Superintendent Janet Schulze says the district has only received one email about this from a parent, saying they have received numerous emails, phone calls, and messages from people that they have determined, do not have any children in the school district.
Some parents we spoke with say they didn’t reach out to the district, rather the school.
Schulze says the teacher, Ramirez, “is teaching the adopted, state and district approved, standards-based curriculum.” Going on to say, “the teacher is not violating any board policy and there is nothing in the teacher’s classroom that violates any policy.”
The Pride flag has long symbolized unity, love and acceptance. Recent studies have found that school environments which are inclusive to LGBTQ+ history, culture, and people are safer learning environments for LGBTQ+ youth and have better educational outcomes.
The parents we spoke with wanted to know if sexual orientation is being taught to first graders at Heights Elementary. We asked the superintendent through email but did not hear back. We did also briefly speak with Ramirez who said she has been severely bullied since her post, her account is now private. As for family members we spoke with, they didn’t want to show their faces out of fears of retaliation.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
