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Forest Lake board keeps ban on Confederate flag, KKK and swastika; allows student-led after‑school clubs for grades 8–12 after packed public comment
Summary
Forest Lake — The Forest Lake Area School Board spent much of its June 26 meeting responding to overflowing public comment and then voted to adopt a revised “limited open forum” policy allowing student‑led after‑school groups at the high school, at the community school and for eighth graders at the middle school, while referring a proposed change to the dress code to the policy committee for further review.
Forest Lake — The Forest Lake Area School Board spent much of its June 26 meeting responding to overflowing public comment and then voted to adopt a revised “limited open forum” policy allowing student‑led after‑school groups at the high school, at the community school and for eighth graders at the middle school, while also referring a separate proposed change to the district dress‑code policy to the policy committee for further review.
Why it matters: Hundreds of community members, teachers, students and elected officials packed the board room and used the meeting’s green‑card public‑comment process to press the board to retain clear, specific prohibitions on symbols associated with racial and religious terror. Speakers said they feared that removing explicit references to the Confederate battle flag, KKK insignia and Nazi swastika would signal permission for displays of hate and would make some students unsafe.
Public comment and themes
More than two dozen speakers addressed the board on policies 05‑15 (discipline/dress code) and 18‑01 (limited open forum). Many commenters urged the board to keep explicit language in the dress code banning specific symbols. Jenny R., who identified herself as a Forest Lake parent, told the board, “There is no room for hate in this community,” and asked board members to “leave your personal religious ideology or racist, transphobic, homophobic, etcetera views at the door.”
Longtime residents and educators recounted the district’s history. Lynn Dufresne, who said she worked for the district “for over 30 years,” told the board she remembered news coverage from the civil‑rights era and said the “Confederate battle flag…was a symbol of white supremacy.” Several former district employees and parents — including former superintendent Linda Madsen — urged keeping the wording that explicitly lists the Confederate flag, swastikas and KKK imagery as…
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