The Barre City School Board says it needs “to just study” whether a school teacher may display a “SafeZone” card in the window of her classroom door. And until it is done “studying,” the card may not be replaced.
      Rachael Erickson, a middle school art teacher, is fighting for the right to put the card back on her door after it was removed by community member David Ayers, possibly following a public meeting he attended at the school. The card indicates to students having questions or problems dealing with their sexual identity that Erickson is a “safe” person to talk to and that Erickson’s classroom is a place where harassment will not be tolerated.
      Ayers objected to the card, according to news reports and to Erickson, because it shows a pink triangle (new ones show a rainbow) and is associated with Outright Vermont, an organization that supports diversity and harassment-free schools. Ayers admitted stealing the card and suggested that he was entitled to do so as a taxpaying member of the community.
      Accompanied by Steve Cable, founder of the now defunct anti-civil union organization “Who Would’ve Thought” and currently CEO of the Rutland-based “Center for American Cultural Renewal,” Ayers appeared at the school board meeting to object to Erickson’s request to replace the card.
      Cable warned the board that displaying the card “legally connects the school to Outright Vermont and what they teach,” according to a report in the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus.
      Erickson, in her second year of full time teaching, cited daily harassment she hears in the hallways. “The most frequent harassment is sexual,” she said in an interview, “and most of the sexual harassment is anti-gay – calling someone a fag, saying of something negative ‘that’s so gay.’”
      She originally looked for the card at the Youth Services Bureau, which redirected her to Outright Vermont’s offices. “All it says is ‘Safe Zone’ with the Outright Vermont website and phone number in very small letters,” Erickson said.
      The card with which she had planned to replace it is “a generic ‘Safe Space’ sign from UVM,” Erickson explained. “I can’t believe the school board is saying I can’t put up a sign saying my classroom is safe space.”
      Erickson is considering filing a formal harassment charge against David Ayers for stealing the card. “When I called the big organizations – GLAAD, HRC, Lambda Legal – they all said, ‘Call us back when you’re fired.’” GLAAD is the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. HRC is the Human Rights Campaign. She said GLESN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) had been helpful.
      The Human Rights Commission of Vermont, a government agency, was not encouraging and not much help, she said, but would consider her complaint if a specific student was involved.
      Erickson is a nationally juried artist who has worked on public murals in several inner cities. She said she teaches four age groups in the K-8 school, fifth graders through eighth graders. She was discouraged from explaining the situation to any of her students, she said, although she has answered questions from older students who ask.
     Currently, Erickson has placed a large sign on her door quoting Vermont law on harassment in schools as a replacement for the ‘Safe Zone’ card that was stolen by Ayers and ‘Safe Space’ card she tried to post in its stead.
    “This is about civil rights,” Erickson declared, “not sex or morality. “Kids need to be safe, regardless of who they are.”