Forest Lake board adopts new student-activities policy, keeps explicit ban on Confederate and KKK symbols

Forest Lake — The Forest Lake Area School Board voted Thursday to adopt a new student-activities policy it calls Policy 1510, preserving district sponsorship and funding for a long list of school clubs and activities, and to rescind the older umbrella policy numbered 507.

The board’s action follows more than two hours of public comment, much of it from students, parents and educators urging the district to preserve student clubs and to explicitly ban symbols associated with hate in the school discipline policy. The board held a first reading of a separate equal-access policy for limited open-forum groups (Policy 18.01) and scheduled final action on that policy for its June 26 meeting.

Why it matters: The policies define which student groups the district formally sponsors (with paid advisers, use of school facilities and promotion) and which operate under limited open-forum rules protected by federal law. The decisions affect middle- and high-school clubs, whether they can have school-paid advisers or district promotion, and how the district handles controversial insignia.

Board action and context - Policy 1510 (Student activities — school-sponsored groups): The board approved the proposed Policy 1510, and at the same time the board accepted a list of currently sponsored groups to be grandfathered into the new policy for the 2025–26 school year. The list read into the record included athletics, curricular extensions (band, theater, FFA, DECA, HOSA, Knowledge Bowl and others), student government, and school operations teams. The board approved Policy 1510 with voice vote; the motion carried.

- Policy 507 (Student activities; earlier umbrella policy): The board voted to discontinue Policy 507 effective July 1, 2025; the motion to rescind carried.

- Policy 18.01 (Equal access / limited open forum): The board heard a first reading of the MSBA-derived draft for limited open-forum groups and will consider action June 26. Administration and legal counsel framed the policy as intended to implement the federal Equal Access Act; the draft also clarifies that groups organized as limited open forum must be student led and that the district must treat such groups neutrally.

Public comments and thread of debate Public commenters — students, teachers, parents and community members — urged the board to retain middle-school and high-school clubs and to name specific hate symbols as prohibited in the discipline policy. Speakers said clubs (including affinity, interest and community-oriented groups) provide safe spaces essential to students’ engagement and learning.

Claire Lugar, a community organizer, told the board she had helped gather petitions and said, “When our students speak up ... the school board should listen.”

Tim Newcomb, a district teacher, urged the board to explicitly prohibit “symbols that are inherently threatening,” naming the Confederate flag, swastika and KKK insignia as examples that courts have allowed schools to ban when they cause material disruption.

Marybeth Higgins, a 25-year district employee, thanked the board for retaining language in the discipline policy that specifically names those symbols, saying, “By naming those symbols directly, you’ve shown a commitment to creating schools where every student feels safe.”

Administrators and legal framing Superintendent Dr. Massey and district counsel said the draft policies were developed with input from the Minnesota School Boards Association model language and local counsel. Dr. Massey explained that School Discipline Policy 515 was presented so it would continue to explicitly prohibit the Confederate flag, swastika and KKK imagery (item 2.c.7 in the draft), rather than relying only on a general “material disruption” standard in the MSBA model.

What the board said Board members discussed how sponsored clubs differ from limited open-forum groups: sponsored clubs can receive district funding, use the district logo, and have paid advisers; limited open-forum groups are student-organized, must be supervised by a nonparticipating adult, and cannot receive preferential promotion or funding. Several members stressed the need to preserve curricular and extracurricular opportunities for students while ensuring legal compliance with federal equal-access rules.

What’s next Policy 1510 takes effect July 1 and the board asked administration to present Policy 18.01 (equal access / limited open forum) for action at the June 26 meeting. If approved, 18.01 will formalize how student-led, non-sponsored groups may form and meet at school during noninstructional time. The district’s discipline policy will be kept with specific prohibitions for the named hate symbols, according to the draft presented.