There's nothing inclusive about banning all flags except government-authorized ones, Jergensen. You're not fooling anyone but yourself with that weak rationalization. You don't get to claim that excluding everyone is inclusion and call it a day. Next you'll be telling us that war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength. Hope you get recalled.

Moderator -- This is just a correction of the previous version where I missed some typos. I could not find an edit function. It would be great if you could replace the former version!
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This was the most well-balanced report of the meeting, but it misses a few things:

-- The audience was mostly made up of outsiders, because "somehow" outside activist groups and every TV news channel in the Bay Area was tipped off

-- Instead of waiting for a public meeting, Mr. Romo pre-emptively issued an incendiary public letter (which somehow was quickly circulated outside Sunol)

-- Parents told at least 2 other reporters that they support the Board, but want to remain anonymous. It appears that the teachers' union, and surprisingly Romo and the Superintendent, adopt the tactics of so-called Antifa by trying to silence opposing views instead of debating

-- Supt Barnes broke the law by removing the California flag to make room for the "Pride" flag. (Imagine explaining to your 5 year old the new flag, and disappearance of the state flag)

-- Romo is wrong on the law. For decades, all government bodies have been required to display flags (or other objects) of ALL interest groups, IF THEY ALLOW THE DISPLAY OF ONE. They have been sued and lost, recently confirmed by a 9-0 US Supreme Court decision

-- Jergensen, Hurley and Ferrari hit the nail on the head: It seems the opposition is interested in virtue signaling rather than problem-solving. No one cited an actual LGBT+ community student who felt discrimination or lack of support... but many were troubled by the over-the-top / knee-jerk manner in which Barnes and Romo handled the issue

....accusing your opponents of being a Bigot or Racist is about the best way to reveal that you are either ignorant or dishonest in representing your position. This is very said because Jergensen, Hurley, Barnes and parents who did speak asked for civil discussion, and being a good example to children.

I think that the school board made the correct decision in banning all flags. The American Flag is the most inclusive a flag in the world. The liberal leaning left only cares about telling everyone what they should do and think. They want to fly the pride or BLM flags with impunity wherever and whenever, but would go ballistic if someone flew a confederate flag. They only care about their view point. People are getting tired of having the liberal agenda being shoved down their throats, but when they speak up they are called a racist.
Great job Sunol!!!

Well yea, Carl. If someone wants to fly a Confederate flag, chances are high that they are in fact a racist.

If the American flag is supposed to be a symbol of inclusiveness, then we've got a long way to go for it to mean that. Historically it's a symbol of freedom and liberty. Not much freedom and liberty going on over in Sunol though.

The American Taliban strikes again. Extreme moral cowardice on the part of the school officials involved. They should be ashamed of the rotten lesson they've taught our kids, that fear and bigotry can win out. I don't think the individuals pushing the removal of the pride flag are capable of shame.

Longtime Resident - The point is, if you want to be inclusive and let a school fly the pride or the BLM flag then in the name of inclusiveness the guy that owns a confederate flag should have the right to fly it. Or do YOU get to pick and choose which flags are flown from the throne that you sit on? You claim the confederate flag proves you are racist, does flying the pride flag prove you are gay? Pleasanton schools are predominantly Asian/Indian, should we replace the US flag with the India national flag? I think there is a lot of freedom and liberty in this country. Look around the world and tell me where there is a society that has more freedom than us.
To be clear, I have friends that are gay and I think they should have the same rights as a straight person. I also do not own a confederate flag, born and raised in the Bay Area.

Freedom of expression is a human right that allows people to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority.

Freedom of expression applies to ideas of all kinds, including those that may be deeply offensive. However, freedom of expression is not absolute and can be restricted under international law when it violates the rights of others or poses a threat to public order.

Carl, ah yes, the paradox of tolerance. That's the problem when you think only in terms of black and white and are unable to deal with nuance; you get stuck in the idealism rather than the pragmatic.

Is your goal to show support for people born differently from the rest of us because you're trying to make them feel included in your community or is your goal to rent out a flagpole for everyone to take turns putting up whatever they want?

No need to rent a flag pole, everyone can have their own and can fly whatever they want on it. Just not at a Sunol school. Ok, I give up trying to reason with someone that believes a man dressed as a woman should use the same restroom as his daughter. After all, we want to be inclusive. Enough said.

A neuroscientist explains why stupidity is an existential threat to America. Following is an opinion by Bobby Azarian.

It may sound like an insensitive statement, but the cold hard truth is that there are a lot of stupid people in the world, and their stupidity presents a constant danger to others. Some of these people are in positions of power and some of them have been elected to run our country. A far greater number of them do not have positions of power, but they still have the power to vote, and the power to spread their ideas. We may have heard of "collective intelligence," but there is also "collective stupidity," and it is a force with equal influence on the world. It would not be a stretch to say that at this point in time, stupidity presents an existential threat to America because, in some circles, it is being celebrated.

Michael Austin,

Have you heard of Cipolla's five laws of stupidity yet? Below is law 3:

"A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses."

I am a long time resident of Sunol, and at the risk of getting involved in another ridiculous argument with Stop and Think and all his type, his representation of the Sunol Glen Elementary School Board meeting is simply wrong, biased and one sided.
The fact of the matter isn't that anyone wanted the right to fly any other flag besides the US Flag and the California Flag on the flagpoles. People simply wanted to have the proposal written in a manner in which NOT EVER SINGLE FLAG EXCEPT THE US FLAG AND THE STATE FLAG IS BANNED FROM BEING FLOWN/HUNG UP at Sunol Glen Elem. That means, no Boy Scout, Girl Scout, 4H Flag. It means no Flags from other countries can be put up in the class room when history is being studied. By the letter of the proposal- kids cannot wear soccer jerseys with the flags of their favorite international teams. Teachers cannot hang "Welcome" flags at their doors. No flags means absolutely no flags. It was a poorly thought out proposal and the current President of the School Board had to much pride to have it re-written. Or maybe this is his intent. I might add, this is on the heels of attempted book banning AND mandatory reporting if a teacher thinks a student may be dressing as a transexual. Read that sentence again. Mandatory reporting if someone THINKS someone is different. I wonder what other regimes started this way?