Milford School Board Holds Public Meeting to Discuss Censorship Policy

DELAWARE – Teachers, tensions and textbooks. The Milford school board is proposing a censorship policy, and the community has a lot to say about it.

The Milford School Board held a board meeting last night to consider changes to the existing but controversial 6103 policy regarding school censorship. Board member Alan Brownstein opened the meeting by explaining the reasoning behind the policy change.

A Jewish child felt offended and uneasy when he saw a Black lives Matter poster, due to a recent social media post by a broader pro-Palestine organization. Therefore, any issues deemed political, controversial, or insensitive were questioned.

During that time, Brownstein said three board members visited six random classrooms at Milford High. “Half of the classrooms we examined had examples of emblems that had political or quasi-political associations. Half.”

Kristina Feher, a teacher for 25 years, says the policy amendments are just a way to distract from what they really need in the classroom. “First of all, it takes away from teaching opportunities, it takes away from our LGBTQIA+ community, it takes away from our Black Lives Matter community. It takes away from marginalized communities… We could get bogged down in a lot of arguments about policies like this and not focus on the real things that we need to work on.”

Some participants shared historical context, like 71-year-old resident Mitchell Curry, who said he was there when Milford was integrated and said the policy has some similarities. “It’s reminiscent of a time when the mindset in this area was more convenient to be segregated than to provide equal opportunities for everyone.”

Mike Brickner, Exc. Director of the ACLU of Delaware, was also present and says the change will open the door to future legal challenges. “It will often limit the ability to talk about things like race, gender, sexuality, different scientific principles, and that will hurt kids who are trying to learn.”

Ultimately, Brickner says the policy could create more legal trouble than the district can anticipate. “We appreciate that the board has made some changes to the policy, but we still believe it violates people’s First Amendment rights.”

The meeting ended with the board attempting to permanently shelve the policy, which failed, and ultimately the board voted to shelve it until a new policy could be approved by staff, parents, teachers and community members.

More details will emerge as the story develops.