Sunol Glen Unified School District
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Updated – April 26, 2024
Board President Ryan Jergensen has been ordered to pay legal fees to one member of the Sunol Glen community for his involvement in the district’s ban on displaying flags other than the U.S. Flag. For what exact reason this payment must be made and who the recipient of it is are both unknown to the public.
According to Fox News, Trustees representing the Sunol Glen School Unified School District in the East Bay, which serves 270 K-8 students, voted Sept. 12 on the new rule, which critics claimed was a backdoor attempt to remove the Pride flag and other progressive symbols from school grounds
Jergensen maintains the goal of banning non-U.S. flags was to maintain the district’s neutrality on ideologies unrelated to the United States — which may have flags to symbolize and represent them — for children and families.
The board president was given a restraining order against former board member Denise Kent Romo due to death threats sent at his family for his role in this flag initiative. Jergensen filled Romo’s seat in November of 2022.
Jergensen told Fox News:
“Apparently, the death threats, the cost of having to pay for attorney’s fees and face this litigation is the cost of a parent – I’m the only parent on the school board standing up and wanting to keep the school neutral for all families.”
Fox News reports that “[s]everal of the death threats allegedly highlighted claims from Kent Romo, who had suggested Jergensen was anti-LGBTQ and associated with extremist organizations.”
Among the death threats that Jergensen received were the following:
“Enjoy your weekend. It could be your last. When did oppression become your main goal?”
Another threat stated:
“Maybe hunting Christians or those of hate should be the backlash? Watch yourselves—for the oppressed will rise and one can only hope they do not act like you—or you may need to hide your kids, your wives, your husband’s and anything you ‘love.'”
On July 2, an election will be held to recall Jergensen and fellow trustee Linda Hurley, according to KQED. The recall effort was instigated by the group United for Sunol Glen, who claim Jergensen and Hurley are pushing a conservative agenda upon the district.
Published – September 15, 2023
On Tuesday, September 12, the Sunol Glen Unified School District Board of Trustees discussed “a potential resolution that would require Sunol Glen School to only display the U.S. and state flags at the school,” the Pleasanton Weekly reports.
According to Board President Ryan Jergensen, after the August 2 board meeting some community members prompted the resolution by expressing concern with “special interest flags” being flown at district schools. The Weekly states, “[s]chool board members have decided to draft the resolution in question in order to ensure no other flags, such as the pride flag, are ever raised in the school.”
The proposed resolution states the following about flags relating to federal and California law:
“WHEREAS, neither federal nor California law requires elementary school districts to display any other flags besides the Flag of the United States of America and the Flag of the State of California[.]”
It concludes by authorizing the district to display only the United States and the state flag:
“NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Governing Board authorizes the Superintendent or designees to display only the Flag of the United States of America and the Flag of the State of California at the Sunol Glen School.”The resolution was passed unanimously by the board. According to Mercury News, the audience was thrown out before the board members voted because there was tension between community members who were for and against the proposal.
