The Teacher At The Center Of Protests At Saticoy Elementary School Speaks Out

At Saticoy Elementary in North Hollywood, two groups of protesters confronted each other on the street Friday morning. The issue? The school’s Pride assembly for its kindergarten through 5th grade students — and a teacher’s Pride flag.

At 8 a.m., droves of people with anti-LGBTQ+ views turned out with white and black shirts — and two large trailers — that all said “leave our kids alone.” Their organizing prompted LGBTQ+ community members to show up, totaling more than 100 people between the two groups.

While no arrests were made, the Los Angeles Police Department stepped in to separate the crowds when confrontations became heated and punches were thrown.

The protests were a culmination of weeks of boycott organizing, anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and a burned Pride flag on school property.

The teacher speaks out about the assembly and their flag

Prior to the assembly, the L.A. Times reported that a transgender teacher’s Pride flag was burned on the property. The LAPD is investigating the vandalism as a possible hate crime. No suspects are identified yet.

The Instagram account that organized the assembly protest says that they aren’t responsible for the burning. The account has posted that they support LGBTQ+ people, and that their issue is with LAUSD and parents’ say in what their children learn about. (According to the district’s public information officer, Jonathan Fu, Friday’s assembly was optional since it was a non-curricular event.)

The teacher found the Progress Pride flag burned down to only inches of fabric next to broken pots last week. The teacher spoke to LAist on the condition that they not be named due to threats they’ve received and concerns about their job. Early reports said that the teacher was removed from the school, but they say that’s incorrect. They’re still employed at Saticoy, and they opted to work at another location out of safety concerns.

“I was gonna go back, but then I got more hate and violent mail, so my kids made me promise,” the teacher said. “My kids are the ones who really were the push for it. They get real scared that something’s gonna happen.”

They also elected to leave temporarily to keep their students safe should the situation escalate further.

The teacher is a well-respected educator who has spent the past seven years at the school during a 30-year teaching career. During this time, they’ve displayed other flags that have stirred some controversy. They recalled a time where they printed out a graphic from the internet of a Pride flag intermixed with the Armenian flag and put it on their classroom door. The teacher says it was recommended to take it down as some people were upset by it.

The burned Pride flag.

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Provided by the anonymous teacher

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The teacher's door display of other Pride signs.

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From the anonymous teacher

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“I was trying to show Armenian Pride. I mean that is our big constituency here,” the teacher said. “I also had one more, which they didn't say anything about, which is ‘all people are welcome,’ and welcome is in [sign language] because we have the deaf and hard of hearing program at school.”

They say the situation has made them concerned about returning to the school, but that LAUSD has been proactive about implementing a safety plan.

Now that the assembly is finished, they expect to finish out the remaining school year at Saticoy. After these events, they’re unsure if they’ll return next year.

“The big message is the pedophilia and the indoctrination — I'm just always insulted to the max over that,” the teacher said. “I didn't give 30 years to the district and all the years with two master’s degrees and a bachelor’s degree, and an AA degree and everything else that I did to get here to prey on children.”

What the assembly was about

The assembly was focused on the diversity of families, according to Megan VandenBos, the chief of staff for LAUSD board member Kelly Gonez. 

Students watched a reading of the Great Big Book of Families and were then given the opportunity to share what their family looks like. The book covers multiple family structures, including adoption, single parents and families with two parents of the same gender.

What did people say at the protest?

The group of community members and LAPD in front of Saticoy Elementary School on June 2, 2023.

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Caitlin Hernandez

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LAist

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There were many in attendance who were not parents of children at the school. Community members came out to lend their support on both sides of the politicized education issue. 

The people who disagree with the school believe firmly that parents should have a say in what their kids learn about. They shouted repeatedly — and without evidence — about LAUSD “grooming” children and how they were disgusted by the assembly. Though the Instagram that launched the protest says they stand with LGBTQ+ people, many in the crowd didn’t seem to share those views.

“You're ruining the innocence of small children,” said one man on a megaphone. “It's pure demon.”

“It should be a parent's right to choose on discussions of sex and education and that the district and even the state shouldn't have a say in that,” said a man, who declined to give his name and has relatives at the school.

LGBTQ+ supporters LAist spoke to showed up to let young kids know that they're safe to be who they are, whether in the community or not. 

“It’s really important that we educate our youth right now because they’re already learning it,” Xodiak Rose said. Rose came to Saticoy after learning of the protest through the San Fernando Valley LGBTQ Center.

For Mandy Arnold, a protester who also does not have children at Saticoy, she believes learning about LGBTQ+ people shouldn’t be treated any differently.

“We're not trying to groom kids,” Arnold said. “We're just trying to let them be free to be themselves. And this rhetoric that we're trying to groom children is just backwards and misinformed.”