Resident urges removal of Pride flag from Interboro school, board took no action

Charles Montney, a resident who identified himself as living at 546 Manhattan Avenue, used the public-comment period at the Sept. 17 Interboro School District Board of School Directors meeting to urge removal of a Pride flag displayed at a school classroom and to say his son missed school as a result.

Montney said his son “went to school Monday or on Thursday after Charlie Kirk was shot” and asked “Mr. Talley to please remove the flag.” He told the board the district had not responded to his calls and said his children had been removed from school previously under what he described as threats of arrest.

Montney said he does not object to clubs or other displays but described the flag’s presence as “shoved down their throat” and accused staff of a double standard when the district permits other religious or private expressions in other contexts. “For my son to have to change his class because one of your teachers wants to stay on some moral high ground … that’s a bag of ********,” he said.

The board did not debate or vote on Montney’s request during the meeting. After Montney’s allotted time ended, the chair moved on to the next agenda item; no formal referral or staff direction related to the flag display was announced on the record.

Montney also said he had spoken with the district solicitor; he told the board he was willing to discuss the matter further after the meeting.

No district official publicly responded to Montney’s remarks during the public-comment period. Miss Riley, who spoke later in the meeting with school-year announcements, did not address the complaint on the record during the Sept. 17 session.

The board proceeded to its consent agenda and other business without taking any recorded action on the flag display or related complaints.