Kids should not have to be subjected to sexually and politically charged flags and banners in their junior and senior high school classrooms. They should not be punished for expressing support for traditional family values in school assignments, and they certainly should not have their trauma-induced gender dysphoria “affirmed” by teachers and school administrators. 

As the primary stakeholders in their children’s lives and education, parents should be informed about their child's behavior and struggles at school and partnered with when dealing with children who are experiencing mental health crises.  

School should be about growing, creating, critical thinking, and learning. Teachers should be teaching children how to think and not what to think. It has been said, “The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled."

This seems fairly obvious, right? 

Well, apparently, it’s not for some teachers, administrators, and board members at Salmon Jr/Sr High School in Salmon, Idaho. Unfortunately, some at the school seem more interested in pushing a political agenda than cultivating an educational atmosphere where kids can pursue academic excellence. 

What is Happening? 

The Salmon Jr/Sr High School in Salmon School District No. 291 has been the talk of the town since early December 2024, when parents and concerned citizens became aware of an ongoing issue at the school. 

The controversy first came to light in 2023 when a student returned home from school and informed his father there was a gay pride flag in his seventh-grade classroom, reportedly hung by his English teacher, Brett Dickerson. Immediately, the concerned father phoned the principal to get some answers, who responded with, “Oh, he has that up again?” 

The flag was not removed immediately in 2023, so a few parents began pressuring the school, requesting its removal as it provoked division, virtue-signaling, and distraction for their children. Eventually, the flag did come down; however, it was soon replaced by a transgender pride flag in 2024 and a “human flag” in 2025. 

You may be thinking, “Well, the human flag doesn’t sound bad, right?” Well, the letters of the word ‘human’ are covered by different flags representing the “sexual identities” of the LGBTQ+ community. The letter ‘H’ is filled in by the “asexual” flag, the ‘U’ is covered by the colors and pattern of the “bisexual” flag; the ‘M’ is filled in by the “gay pride” flag colors; the ‘A’ depicts the “transgender” flag, and finally, the ‘N’ is covered by the “pansexual” flag. This is an inherently politically charged flag that celebrates mental health crises and is a symbol of wokism.

Parents reported having multiple conversations with the school principal regarding the flags, each time believing action would finally be taken to remedy the situation. In December 2024, the issue escalated when a local grandmother, Christina Davis, heard the story from several Salmon Jr/Sr High parents who were angry about the transgender flag.

Davis runs a Facebook page called Lemhi Live, where she first exposed the issue to members of the community on December 12, 2024. In response to Davis’ post, a local dad in the school district, Jeremiah Martin, contacted the school district superintendent, Jill Patton, and the school board chair, Kellen Miller, requesting that the flag issue and a space for his testimony be added to the agenda for the January 20, 2025, school board meeting.         

Prior to the meeting, a letter to the editor went out in the local newspaper claiming a teacher was going to be “dismiss[ed]” for displaying a human flag in his classroom. Somehow, the editorial was published before the agenda was officially released to the public, leading to a woke group organizing en masse for the Monday evening board meeting. 

The meeting itself was, as one Salmon Jr/Sr High parent explained, “a disaster and something more akin to a gay pride convention than a school board meeting.” School music director, John Anderson, contributed to the circus meeting by reportedly saying, “I’m 44 years old, I am a gay man, I’m single, and I’m looking.”

Multiple parents reported that between 100 and 150 people attended the meeting, largely in support of Dickerson and the woke flag. One mom explained, “[m]ost were people I have never seen in our community before. Almost like they came from other cities and counties. Maybe even other states.”

At the school board meeting, dozens of the crowd members spoke in support of Dickerson. They argued for the inclusivity of the flag during public comment before staging a walkout when those on the agenda to speak against the flag, such as Martin, got up to comment. Several parents offered testimony, calling for the removal of the flag and the restoration of a neutral learning environment. After deliberation, the board determined that the school district would not act until the Legislature enacted a law mandating the removal of the flag. 

We find this interesting because school districts in Idaho almost universally campaign for what they call “local control.” 

Is There a Deeper Problem Here?

The flag issue is only the tip of the iceberg, a symptom of a much deeper problem at Salmon Jr/Sr High School: wokism.  

Undeterred by the events at the January 20, 2025, school board meeting, parents still emailed and petitioned the board and superintendent to address the flag issue further. Martin specifically wanted to discuss and implement two policies from other school districts around the state — 2050 Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation and 2525 Classroom Environment — at the February 17, 2025, meeting.  

Policy 2050 offers definitions for controversial terms such as ‘gender identity,’ ‘sexual orientation,’ and ‘gender expression.’ It would explain the school policy regarding issues such as ‘compelled speech,’ a ‘safe learning environment,’ and student records. Policy 2525 clarifies that the school district creates a content-neutral learning environment devoid of bias from teachers and specifies the types of flags and banners that are eligible to be flown on school grounds.        

Martin’s request to be placed on the agenda to speak on the policies was denied, so he spoke during public comment, but of course, no action was taken.

This month, after persistent inquiries, the board added “policy consideration” to the March 17 meeting agenda. The board adopted policy 2050, but they did not adopt policy 2525 because of House Bill 41, which the governor signed on March 20, 2025.   

Since December, parents of students past and present have come forward with a plethora of concerns and grievances against certain teachers, the principal, the superintendent, and the school board. Several parents reported that their children had been excused from class for wearing MAGA or other conservative clothing or hats in the 2025 school year alone. One parent says her child “actively avoids taking Mr. Dickerson’s class for fear of retaliation and targeting even though Mr. Dickerson's class is the easier” of the two offered for their grade level.     

Students who have spoken against the flag or expressed traditional values appear to have been retaliated against, and several are afraid of being retaliated against. One eighth grader, a straight-A student in Dickerson’s classroom, turned in a poem that expressed traditional values and received a D on his assignment. Dickerson made corrections, changing the concluding two lines from “Hold onto your freedoms, even if it seems you fight for them alone. Hold onto what is right, Even when it is not popular” to “Hold onto basketball, Even when your parents take away your freedom.” 

Several parents have also reported that the Mahoney House, a local social service organization in Salmon that “provides assistance and supportive services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, teen dating violence, and child abuse,” educates in the school. Accounts from students and parents state that they offer education on “peaceful parenting” and ask questions such as, “Do you come from an abusive or peaceful home?” All without parental knowledge or consent. 

Yet another concern is how Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) doctrines are gaining a foothold in this rural, apple-pie Idaho community.   

There is a deep ideological woke push at Salmon Jr/Sr High School in the Department of Performing Arts. Several parents expressed concern over the content of the most recent play, “Hadestown,” performed in late February and March 2025. The play was reportedly “extremely politically charged and targeted at [President] Trump’s immigration policy of building a wall on the border.” 

The playbill included a note stating, “The SJSHS Department of Performing Arts is committed to maintaining an environment that promotes diversity, inclusion, and acceptance for everyone.” 

Additionally, the Director's Note linked the “Hadestown” storyline of authoritarianism, class disparity, minority oppression, and environmental decay to “our current cultural moment.” He wrote that the storyline “call[s] to mind the resilience of individuals and communities, who, even in the face of adversity, continue to advocate for justice, equality, inclusiveness, diversity, and environmental action.”

Raise your hand if you’re concerned.    

Worst of All…

As if the experiences of the students and parents recounted above were not egregious enough, this story gets even worse. Several parents have reported that their children’s emotional and physical traumas were seemingly ignored by the school because of its desire to push woke ideology.  

Last week, The Recorder Herald (a Salmon news source) published a story regarding the accounts of students feeling unsafe or uncomfortable as a result of Dickerson’s sexually and politically charged flags, stating that school officials were “unaware of any complaints that have been made … by any student regarding Dickerson.” 

However, one parent has come forward, stating her eighth-grade son reported to Dickerson, the school counselor, and the principal that, due to severe past trauma with the LGBTQ community, the flag displays in the classroom were “emotionally triggering.”   

Additionally, when the issue of the transgender flag being in Dickerson’s classroom was exposed in December 2024, a parent, Tonya Heald, spoke out about her experience with the school and how the history and government teacher Brady Bever and school administrators reportedly encouraged and “affirmed” her daughter’s trauma-induced gender dysphoria without parental knowledge or consent. Heald explained how her daughter was extremely affected by the progressive ideology pushed at the school and reported that the school’s Department of Performing Arts and some of her daughter’s unofficial school paperwork used her daughter’s preferred name, beginning as early as 2018. 

Heald explained, “This is about parental rights. My daughter's mental health condition should never have been affirmed by school teachers and administrators.” At the January 20, 2025, school board meeting, Heald read a letter she had sent to the school superintendent and school board chair, sharing her story of how she felt her daughter's trauma-induced mental health disorder was abused at the school. Her daughter, who recently graduated, has now undergone a double mastectomy, hormone treatments, and is currently living as a male.           

Heald’s story represents not only a major ideological issue at the school but also an issue of parental rights. Parents have the right to be informed by the school about their children’s physical and mental health, as well as any concerning behavior or disciplinary action. Another parent stated that her child received disciplinary action and was removed three times from Dickerson’s class without her being informed of the situation. 

This is an outrage.  

Where is the Situation Now?     

The short answer is nowhere. 

The flag is still up in the classroom, teachers and administrators pushing woke ideology are still at the school, and the school board remains steadfast in their decision to wait for legislation to mandate any action on the removal of the flags.

Several families have removed their children and begun homeschooling or online schooling. One parent stated he had never seen so many students homeschooled in Salmon, Idaho. Parents are worried about their children being exposed to woke ideology and being “indoctrinated.” One concerned mom stated, “All we are asking for is a neutral space for our children to learn in. We’re not asking for much. All we’re asking is ‘please just don’t indoctrinate our kids.’”   

The situation has escalated so dramatically in the rural mountain town that parents who have chosen to speak out against the flags and wokism in the school are reportedly seeing financial ramifications in their local businesses. Others have chosen to remain anonymous for fear of losing business in this difficult economy. 

Parents should not have to worry about exercising their rights and defending their children’s minds and innocence. Salmon Jr/ Sr High School is just one more example of the failures plaguing government-run schools. 

Parents are outraged, and students are struggling. 

Woke ideology does not belong in Idaho schools.