PROTEST SCHOOL BOARD VOTE
Students at Sonoma Valley High School, are calling for a walkout of all Sonoma Valley High School students on Tuesday October 13th, to Protest the School Board decision to bring the pride flag down after a 3-2 vote to fly only the California, and the US Flag on the campus flagpoles. Also to further protest with a flag planting on Wednesday October 14 at 7:45 am on the front school lawn.
As a result of the School Board vote, the Pride flag will not be raised on the high school campus on Tuesday, October 13th. Besides the brief period in February when School Board President Bell ordered the flag down and was removed for 4 days, Tuesday is the first School day the flag won’t be raised since a student led movement initiated the daily flag flying in 2019. Angry and disappointed, the GSA students has made the decision to walk out and hopes students throughout the school will join them.
The GSA asks that COMMUNITY MEMBERS TO SHOW UP IN SUPPORT:
- Students are walking out at 11:50 am (during passing between 3rd and 4th period)
- Community members to begin gathering at 11:30 across the street from the high school. on Broadway at 11:30 am. Community members are required to stay off school grounds during school hours.
- Wear rainbow colors
- Bring signs, flags, voice
- Need a sign? Join for Sign making at Sonoma Community Center Monday October 12 from 10-12. BRING SUPPLIES
- ALSO – Wednesday Oct 14, Flag Planting at SVHS Front Lawn at 7:45 am.
GSA President Madeleine Edwards explains:
“I’ve been advocating for the pride flag because growing up queer, there’s this assumption that you might not belong in every new room you walk into. It’s a really isolating feeling, and as the president of GSA, it’s my responsibility to try to make Sonoma Valley High feel like a place where LGBTQ students belong. Belonging is especially important for the mental health of students who are often more likely to be bullied or consider suicide than their peers.
We’re walking out on Tuesday to protest the pride flag coming down and the derogatory way some members of the board talk about queer students, but we’re also walking out because the pride flag being raised was student-led, and we believe that supporting student-led movements is essential for a high school community that prepares us for the adult world.
It’s no secret that the flag came down because of homophobic sentiments, and the way that some board members discussed the issue was extremely insensitive and oftentimes offensive. I hope that we can bring the pride flag back — It’s been a really powerful signal of safety for my peers and I for as long as I’ve gone to this high school.”
Background
In bucolic and what appears to be a progressive small community In Sonoma Valley, one board member acted alone in February 2026 to take down the pride flag, a student safety symbol due to his own bias. The community reacted and it was placed back 4 days later, but since then, 3 right leaning School Board members continue to demonstrate bias and are now rushing to push their own anti-LGBTQ agenda on an entire community and school system before the November elections shift the majority vote. For the past 9 months, this board has held the community captive with threats to implement policy that would result in permanent removal of the pride flag currently flying at the High School, while bypassing community input on new policies, and without ensuring that mental health safeguards are in place for those who will be impacted. The policy as presented would also restrict pride flags from flying at any of the other schools in the district.
On Wednesday, October 8, at 6:00 p.m., the Sonoma Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees discussed and unveiled three brand-new flag policy options, with a 4th option added independently by David Bell after the board meeting, and voted on them that exact same night without adequate opportunity for community input. Community members, students, and parents have been sounding the alarm over what they view as an intentional maneuver to push through restrictions before a new trustee takes office in December.
- Mental Health Crisis: The district’s 2026 YouthTruth survey reveals that 27% of LGBTQ+ students seriously considered suicide in the past year, compared to just 4% of their peers.
- Safety Gap: Only 42% of LGBTQ students feel safe compared to non-LGBTQ students at 61%. 34% of LGBTQ students were bullied compared to non-LGBTQ at 10%
- Administrative Warnings: During public record hearings, Superintendent Jason Sutter warned that the policy risks transforming student-led speech into rigid “board speech.”
- 11 students repeatedly show up to tell the School board how taking the flag down has hurt them, and how harassment and bullying has increased since February when the flag was taken down, which feels like a signal that bullying is acceptable.
Despite public comment running overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the flag (including a 30-to-2 ratio of public input at a recent key meeting), the board moved forward with a compressed timeline that shut out adequate community input.
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