June 16, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode, our guest is Sarah Inama, the former West Ada School District educator who made national and international headlines earlier this year refusing to bow to her school district administration’s directive to take down her classroom poster affirming the importance of inclusion and diversity.
Sarah’s story and her now-famous ‘Everyone is Welcome Here’ poster became a rallying point for those eager to support students, educators and public education.
The IEA Reporter Podcast caught up with Sarah from home during summer break to talk to her about her experiences and what comes next for her.
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Episode Transcript
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Mike Journee (00:13):
Welcome to the IEA reporter podcast, a regular
discussion about the news andevents important to Idaho
Education Association membersand those who value public
education.IEA members are publicschool educators from all over
the state and members of thelargest union in Idaho. They're
Idaho's most important educationexperts, and they use their
influence to fight for a free,quality and equitable public
(00:35):
education for every student inthe state. I'm Mike Journee,
communications director at DIAand I'll be your host for this
episode today. Our guest isSarah ainama, the former West
ADA school district educator whomade national and international
headlines earlier this year forrefusing to bow to her school
district administration'sdirective to take down her
(00:55):
classroom poster affirming theimportance of inclusion and
diversity after her stand madeheadlines. Sarah story and her
now famous, everyone is welcomehere. Poster became a rallying
point for those eager to supportstudents, educators and public
education. In fact, the poster'sinclusive imagery, featuring
hearts and hands of varied skintones, became known on popular e
(01:18):
commerce sites as the Idahoteacher Poster The IEA reporter
podcast caught up with Sarahfrom home during summer break to
talk with her about herexperiences and what comes next
for her.
Sarah Namo, welcome to the IEAreporter podcast. We're really
(01:39):
excited to have you here. Thanksfor joining us today.
Sarah Inama (01:41):
Thanks for having me on
Mike Journee (01:42):
you bet you know Sarah. I'm going to assume for
the moment that most peoplelistening to this podcast are
going to know a bit about youand your experience that you've
had over the last severalmonths. I know it's been quite a
2025 for you so far. So I wantedto start off with where things
stand with you professionally.
Last we heard publicly was thatyou had resigned from your
position as a sixth grade worldcivilizations teacher at Lewis
(02:05):
Clark Middle School in the WestADA School District. Do you have
any news for us about whereyou're going to be teaching this
summer or this fall? Excuse me,me,
Sarah Inama (02:16):
yes, I'm excited to say that I accepted a teaching
position at East Junior High inthe Boise school district
teaching World Studies. That'sreally fantastic news. I'm glad
to hear that. I know it's been areally rough spring for you, and
so I'm glad to I'm glad you'regoing to land in such a great
place. I've heard great thingsabout that school and the
administrators there, so I'mglad to hear that for you.
(02:37):
Thanks. Yeah, I'm a soul. Youknow your stand to keep your
everyone is welcome here. Bannerin your classroom in the West,
Ada school district becamenational and even international
news.
Mike Journee (02:49):
How have the last few months been for you?
Personally,
Sarah Inama (02:52):
it has been, it's been a little overwhelming. I
sometimes feel bad that I can'tget back to everyone. I've
received a lot of mail, likeactual snail mail, which has
been really awesome, lots ofemails, and I've tried to get
back to as many people aspossible, but people are
(03:13):
listening, and they sent mesomething. I hope they know that
I I appreciate what they sentme, and and and I have read
everything, so I'm just reallythankful for that. I you know,
this is also in the midst ofjust grading 150 papers and
tests and planning other units.
So trying to balance that timekind of made it a little bit
(03:38):
overwhelming, but also it wasreally validating that so many
people in our community, in ourstate, in this country and like
this world, feel the same wayabout this message. I mean, I
think it's something a lot ofpeople can get behind and are
(04:00):
kind of astonished that this iseven being considered a
controversial message, which tomany people, it's obviously not.
And so just the support and howmuch I've been reached out to by
people is has been reallyawesome.
Mike Journee (04:19):
That's great to hear. I imagine it's a bit
surreal. One minute you'reteaching your sixth graders, and
next minute you're a middle ofthe spotlight for better or
worse, right?
Sarah Inama (04:29):
Yeah, totally
Mike Journee (04:31):
Well, to be honest with you, we we totally
underestimated what yoursituation meant to people. I'll
be honest any social media poststhe IEA did about you or your
poster just went nuts in waysthat we just didn't. We didn't
expect. What do you think it isabout this moment in time in our
society that made your standresonate with people so much?
Unknown (04:56):
Yeah, I was just thinking about this. I just
think I. Yeah, there are a lotof people today in this
environment that are confused,infuriated, terrified about what
is being considered political.
It seems like what is makingpeople frustrated is that things
(05:19):
that are not controversial arebeing considered political. At
this point, that's where we haveto start standing up and drawing
a line, setting a boundary,saying this, no, this is not
going to be political. This isnot political, and we need to
walk it back.
Mike Journee (05:42):
Yeah, things, things we might have assumed to
be truth in a modern societythat suddenly, suddenly no
longer are being consideredtruth for folks, whether it's
scientific facts or the color ofsomeone's skin or whatever it
may be, and how they and howthey're seen by other people.
(06:03):
It's, it's really, really quite,quite astonishing to see how
quickly things have unraveled.
Unknown (06:10):
Yeah, I think some people just have that moment
where they're like, What are wedoing here? And I think it
really, really gets to peoplewhen they see children affected
by that
Mike Journee (06:23):
absolutely, absolutely
Unknown (06:24):
children that were, you know, they trust. These are
places schools where people aretrusting adults to make sure
that their children's well beingis at the foremost and at the
forefront and and so I thinkthat's really upsetting to see
(06:45):
that adults and people inpositions of authority aren't
upholding those things.
Absolutely.
Mike Journee (06:53):
We're gonna we're gonna talk a little bit more
about some of the reactions thatyou saw here in a little while,
whether it's from your studentsor from from grown ups. But
first of all, I want to talk alittle bit about the image that
that was at the center of allthis. It's in fact, the image is
pretty well known now. In fact,on E commerce sites and T shirts
and posters and other things arebeing labeled with Idaho
(07:16):
teacher. Everyone is welcome.
Unknown (07:19):
Yeah. Were you? Were you
Mike Journee (07:21):
surprised by people's reaction to that image
and the notoriety of the of theimage? Now,
Unknown (07:29):
I mean, I, I think it's a beautiful message, and I, I
love to see it everywhere. I seepeople wearing the T shirts when
I'm out walking on the GreenBelt, or I see the yard signs in
people's yards riding my bikearound, and I've seen it painted
on storefront windows. Peoplehave sent me text messages of
(07:52):
people wearing the T shirts inSpain and Europe, and I mean,
all over. And I just think it'scool, like I I think would be
awesome to keep this messagegoing. And I just think it's
such a beautiful message that isso simple, but it has a lot of
(08:14):
meaning behind it. It's been,it's been really great to see
how far and wide it's beenspread.
Mike Journee (08:19):
Yeah, I'll share a personal note. I was wearing my
T shirt in my front yard theother day, and a woman stopped
and said, I love your T shirtand and she asked me where I got
it, you know, and everything. Ijust told her, it's online. You
can search Idaho teacher,everyone, everyone is welcome.
You'll find it. So, so I'm sureshe went home and and searched
for one, and maybe has one ofher own. So that was, it was
(08:41):
really neat. Well, one of thethings that's really stood out
for me throughout this wholeepisode is kind of the tone deaf
nature of the West data, schoolboard and administration over
the whole thing. You know, Ithink to this day, they're
unwilling to admit any mistakes,and they continue to double down
on the position they'readjusting policies and that kind
of thing right now, but, butpeople are still concerned about
(09:04):
what they're going to do. Wereyou surprised at their position
and their unwillingness to backdown on things?
Unknown (09:12):
Yeah, I guess the first time we anyone ever really heard
them address it in a publicsense would be on the ranch
podcast, and that, I meanlistening to Marcus Myers talk
on that just blew my mind. Icouldn't believe I mean his
(09:38):
reasonings for saying that thisposter is a violation of their
policy. I just couldn't believeit. And then, you know, the memo
sent out to staff saying thateverybody needs to be a team
player, and when people aren't ateam player, and. Know how to
(10:00):
follow the rules of the game.
It's confusing. Which I waslike, Guess it is confusing. I
mean, I that's the whole point.
I I was like, I, as a teacher,Love rules. I love them. You
know, I've read the new those,those policies every year that
(10:20):
I've worked there, I've signedacknowledgement forms of them
like I understand thosepolicies, but I still, to this
day, will argue that my posteris not a violation of what that
policy is written out to be. Andthe whole time, I really didn't
(10:41):
take any of this stuffpersonally, and I didn't feel
like personally I talked withthem, I guess. But I just was
really upset for the students tosee this. I mean, how
heartbreaking for my like allthese students to see that the
(11:01):
people that are supposed to beprotecting them and standing up
for all of them are reacting inthis way.
Mike Journee (11:11):
Well, Sarah, for for the few people out there who
probably don't understand whatwe're talking about with this
image, describe for us theposter and why you put it up in
your classroom to begin
Unknown (11:24):
with? Yeah, well, I I've just always had a lot of
things in my classroom, like Ihave just felt like I'll spend
eight hours a day, five days aweek in this room, and just
observing the students that I'vehad, I've just kind of
(11:46):
accumulated decor that I feellike makes the room feel cozy
and addresses, you know, thingsthat I've seen Like I've seen
students feel no confidence inthemselves, socially or
academically, and so I like tohave a poster that, because I'm
(12:09):
rooting for you, and I believeyou can. I believe you can
things like that. And you know,I've, I've seen discriminatory
comments be a problem in theschool that I was working
naming. So I thought it was avalid poster to hang up to just
(12:33):
clearly say that everyone iswelcome in my classroom. And I
liked the image of the handswith different skin tones. Those
skin tones look like students inmy classroom. And I think
representation matters and andnot just I think that it does.
It's been proven that forstudents to see that they're
(12:55):
represented is important too,especially when they all act and
are different. So I never in amillion years imagine that that
sign would cause any issue. Ithought was a beautiful message.
So it's been in my classroompretty much since I started
(13:17):
teaching, probably five yearsand the day that I was told to
take it down were, you know, Iwas visited by my principal,
Monty Hyatt, and my assistantprincipal, Heather Fisher,
during my lunch period. And theysaid, You know, I need to take
(13:41):
it down by the end of the daythen. And then I have four more
cost periods left after that.
And I just was really sad aboutit. I could I it totally caught
me off guard and and itblindsided me, and it was just
(14:04):
super I don't know how else toexplain it, but I was just super
sad
Mike Journee (14:10):
about it. And did your students the rest of that
day, you took it down. At thatmoment when they asked you to
take
Unknown (14:18):
it down, I took it down. I mean, by the time they
left my classroom, I had aboutfive minutes left in my lunch
break. So then this periodstarted, and I had to take a
little moment in the hallway togather myself. My students were
concerned about why I wasfeeling so upset. Whatever I
(14:42):
didn't like directly address it,but I did have to stand up and
take a poster down off the wall,and I didn't put it away. I just
put it on the back table in myclassroom, and at the end of
class, I. Some students werelooking at the poster, and said,
(15:04):
You have to take this posterdown. And I said, Yeah, Lisa,
why do you take this down? Said,I mean, at that moment, I was
just like, I am not i i am notspeaking to them, and as part of
(15:24):
this district, I am not I'm notanswering their question in a
way that's going to protect thisdistrict, because I do not agree
in any way in what I'm doingright now by taking this poster
down, and I'm not going to beassociated with the message that
that sends to my students. Youknow, I just said, I don't know.
(15:46):
That doesn't follow theirpolicy. For some reason I just
said, I don't know. I just leftit
Mike Journee (15:53):
pretty so your students immediately noticed and
started asking questions. One,yeah, yeah, that's, that's,
that's pretty poignant stuffright there, and the fact that
you didn't quite understand howto answer the question, I think,
is, is, is very telling andunderstandable.
Unknown (16:15):
Yeah, well, no way was I going to say to them what I
was told I wasn't going to saythem, these students that are
looking at me and the studentsthat were looking at me and
asking these questionsliterally. And I'm not just
saying this for shock value.
We're all students of colorrepresented on that poster. And
they said, Why is this posterneed to come down? And no way
(16:38):
was I going to say to them,because this poster is just an
opinion, and it doesn't allowfor people with other opinion,
other opinions or differingopinions. Wasn't allow for their
viewpoint. What kind of messagedoes that send to the students
(17:00):
that you've worked with, thatyou have built relationships
with, that have grown to trustyou, for you to say to them,
Mike Journee (17:13):
right? It's tell us a little more specifically
about what, what you were toldin that initial moment, about
why, why? Why it had to comedown. We haven't really talked
about that directly. What, what,what did the the principal and
assistant principal say whenyou, when you, when they came
into your room,
Unknown (17:29):
they said, so we're just having to go around to
rooms and have some posters comedown that are being considered a
violation of our districtpolicy, and they're like, you
know, things that have like,hands on them. And I was like,
(17:56):
Is this the poster that you'retalking about? And it's very
obviously right above our heads.
And they're like, Yeah, likethat one, and they turned right
to the other one in the at thefront of my classroom that said,
everyone in this classroom iswelcome, valued, loved it, all
words on it, but that one, andthey said is just, it's
(18:21):
considered an opinion. And Iimmediately was like, that
sounds racist to me. This isjust an opinion that's racist.
And we're like, yeah, we knowit's a bummer, right? You have
until the end of the day to takeit down.
Mike Journee (18:44):
So they so they were going around spot checking
rooms, or that's what they toldyou that they were doing. I
guess my question is, more, doyou feel like they knew that
that poster was up and they cameto talk to you specifically
about it? Or do you really thinkthat they were going around all
the rooms, looking at theposters in the rooms and telling
people to take things down.
Unknown (19:03):
I think they had already gone through people's
rooms and knew which postersneeded to come down. And then
when they came to me, they knewwhich posters they needed to
have come down in migram
Mike Journee (19:15):
but initially you did take it down. You felt
terrible about it. You gotimmediate questions from your
students about it, yeah, butthat weekend, I understand you
put it back up,
Unknown (19:27):
yeah, I just could not get it out of my head and it
just, I just did not feel itjust did not sit well with me at
all. And so Saturday morning, Iwas like, I am going to put that
sign back up, and I want to putit up right now. So right over
(19:50):
to school and hit back up and aand then I sat at my school
computer right then and sent anemail. To my principal, saying,
you know, I don't agree withwhat you your explanation for
why this poster needs to comedown. I don't agree that it's a
violation of this policy. And Iput it back up. And I think, you
(20:16):
know, in a roundabout way, Isaid, I think it is your job to
protect these students againstwhatever reasoning it is you
came to me within the firstplace, and it's and it's if
you're not going to do your job,it is my job as a teacher to to
protect them, and that's whatI'm doing. And I thought for
(20:42):
sure I would get fired.
Mike Journee (20:43):
You did? You thought in that moment you would
get fired? Yeah, you, I wasgonna talk to you about this a
little bit later, but, but youwere not a member of the Union
at that moment. You're a memberof the Union now we joined kind
of in the aftermath of all this.
And I wanted to, do you feellike, if you had been a member
of the Union, that they wouldhave, would have approached you
(21:05):
in the same way? I
Unknown (21:08):
don't know. I've never thought about that. I'll have no
idea, but I do know. So after Isent that email to my principal,
he came to me about followingMonday, and said, you know, this
is still a violation. Youkeeping it up is
(21:31):
insubordination, and I'd reallylike you to take it down. And
said, Nope, not interested inthat. And he said, Hey, well,
then I'm gonna have to get otherpeople involved. And said, do
whatever you can do. And so heset up a meeting with him, me
and Marcus Myers, the chiefacademic officer. And I said,
(21:54):
Yeah, but I'm going to havesomebody else in that meeting
too. And I I asked one of theunion representatives at our
school to sit in that meeting totake notes, which I'm very
thankful to her that she didthat, because I just, I mean, I
could not believe the reasoningsthat they were giving me, and I
I just needed to have somebodyelse there to make sure it was
(22:21):
being recorded.
Mike Journee (22:25):
You I saw one district representative talk
about this, where they wereclaiming that you intended to
cause a stir, that that you wentto the press with the intent of
of stirring things up. And let'stalk a little bit about that.
They also talked about thetiming. The timing was, was was
such to to to create the max,the maximum stir around what
(22:45):
was, what's going on in publiceducation these days. What's
your reaction to that? Silly
Unknown (22:50):
for them to say that I never in a million years would
have ever thought that thiswould happen. I would never,
ever want to be a part ofanything like this, ever like I
think what they said, and Ithink their reasonings, and I
think their reactions to it aredisgusting, and it's
(23:10):
embarrassing for for the schooldistrict. And I would have never
planned that. I mean, I I, all Ican do is just circle back to
think about my students. I wouldhave never, ever wanted anything
like that to ever be put intheir brains. I mean, I think
for some of them, that was thefirst time they ever had to sit
(23:30):
and contemplate about the factthat some people think that it's
just an opinion that everyoneshould be welcome there based on
the way that they look and itis. I I'm, I'm still so sick and
saddened that this situation hadto be the first time for some of
(23:51):
them to realize that some peoplethink that this is an opinion.
So I would have, I would havenever planned this. And that was
my one qualm about going to thenews with this is that I really
didn't want my students to knowwhat the district was saying
because it was hurtful. I didn'twant to go to the news to be
(24:13):
like, Look at me. Look at whatI've done. I wanted to go to the
news to be like, Look at what isaffecting your students work.
These are people's children intheir classroom and the people
that are in charge of their wellbeing. These. These are the
decisions and the reasons thatwill get me for this. And this
is an extremely slippery slope.
I feel like this, I just willnot be a part of accepting this
Mike Journee (24:41):
a very brave stance. I'm really curious what
the range of reactions were fromyour colleagues, while all this
was kind of playing out, I'massuming that they knew what was
happening. I'm assuming that wegot out and and what was the
range of reactions you saw fromthem? Some
Unknown (24:58):
people, you know, there's a hand. Full of people
that were very supportive.
They'd come check in on me andsend me messages of support.
There were some colleagues thatI started to have less and less
of a relationship with, just,you know, and it was also the
end of the year, so, you know,we're very busy, and we barely
(25:20):
have two minutes to run to thebathroom. So, you know, I don't
blame anybody for not being moreinvolved in this, but it did at
some point, at sometimes feellike I kind of was in this
alone. Yeah, what I did after,you know, the abundance of
(25:47):
emails I received there, therewere a lot of emails from other
teachers in the district thatwere working at other schools
that said, I have this assigned,very similar to this in my
costume, I support you so thatthat was a lot very recent,
Mike Journee (26:07):
and I'll say your your new employer, the Boise
School District, came out reallyearly after you went public with
this and with a statement ofsupport saying that this, this
is the kind of thing that youwant teachers to do. I thought
that was, that was a prettyextraordinary position, given,
given what was going on withyour school district.
Unknown (26:26):
Yeah, that was, that was so nice. I mean, that really
got me in my field, like,that's the whole point. This is
not a message that should be aviolation, that should we need
to be dissected to figure outwhat the what the underlying
message is. This isn't somethingthat is controversial, like this
(26:50):
is a message that is beautiful,and it if this isn't the basis
of public education, I don'tknow what is, and I I think it's
something that people shouldn'tbe afraid of. I think it's
something that we should behappy to be able to say, Yeah,
Mike Journee (27:09):
you, you did resign your position with West
ADA school district over thisbefore the end of the school
year. You stayed on through theend of the year. I do believe,
but, but you did resign yourposition with them. No, you
would not be returning to theirschool. And your resignation
letter, you said the schooldistrict is more interested in
not alienating people with aracist view of our students,
(27:29):
rather than supporting me and myclassroom. That's a pretty
that's a pretty extraordinarything. Can you talk a little bit
more about that? And if you canput it in the context of what's
going on in the larger picturearound the politicization of
public education, what'shappening in our state, the
policies, you know, there's theyreferenced a specific policy.
They also referenced a state lawthat that bans critical race
(27:54):
theory, the false narrative ofcritical race theory. Can you
talk a little bit about thatperspective and that phrase that
you put it you put into thatresignation letter in the bigger
picture for us, yeah, I mean,
Unknown (28:10):
the the theme of the response that I got from my
principals, district officials,even our superintendent over
there was that they were tryingto protect me, and I was I. I
kept saying, protect me fromwhat nobody has complained about
(28:32):
this poster, not one student,not one colleague, not one
parent, and you're trying toprotect me, just in case some
parent were to complain aboutthis poster, and I said to our
superintendent, I said, ifsomeone came and complained to
you about this poster and said,I don't think that there should
be a sign that says everyone iswelcome here, because I think
(28:55):
that's just an opinion, then, asa School District, should know
ahead of time and always whattheir fundamental values are.
And when somebody says, I don'tagree with that, they should
have enough conviction to say,well, that's public education.
(29:17):
If you think, if you have adiffering opinion of everyone is
welcome here, then publiceducation is not the place for
you. I mean, I always thoughtthat that was the case. I always
thought that administrators andofficials in public education
(29:37):
would only have gotten intopublic education because they
believed that. I don't know whythey would be so worried about
standing up for that to ahandful of noisy, bigoted people
in the community. And I thinkthings in this country that make
(29:57):
us really proud to be Americansare. Are things or times where
people have fought for thoseinalienable rights for other
people, and I think it takes areally patriotic and strong
person to stand up and fight forthose rights for other people,
(30:20):
if we only considered aboutwhether or not we have those
yourself. That's privilege.
Mike Journee (30:27):
That's a really fantastic point. It's very
interesting, and Iwholeheartedly agree with you.
So Sarah, you became a unionmember after this concert
already started. Tell us alittle bit about that. What most
of the folks are going to belistening here are IEA members.
Tell us about why you joinedtheir union, your union now.
Unknown (30:49):
Yeah, it has. Had been something that was always on my
mind. I wasn't. I didn't justall of a sudden think about
joining the union when thisstarted to happen. It just, you
know, I talked to unionrepresentatives at our school,
and had been really supported bythem, even though I wasn't at
(31:12):
that point a member of theUnion, and I think it provided a
little bit of a community that Ididn't know existed, or I didn't
know would would be so great tobe a part of. It's it's nice to
have a community of educatorsand people that believe in the
(31:37):
beauty of public education cometogether to remember what that
is.
Mike Journee (31:46):
That's right, and I really do have a big question
mark around the fact as towhether or not they would have
come at you so hard if you hadbeen a member of the Union
before. There's power in being aunion member. Your first
exposure to the Union at largewas at the IEA delegate assembly
in April, where you joined thedelegates in the hall and
(32:06):
received a standing ovation. Howdid that make you feel as a new
member?
Unknown (32:11):
Yeah, that was really awesome that I did not know what
I was walking into. I wasinvited by our Region Director,
and he just said, you know, stopby if you get a second. And I
walked into the back of thishuge auditorium, and there must
(32:31):
have been, I mean, how manypeople do you think were there?
Mike Journee (32:34):
There's, well, there was about 400 Yeah. And
Unknown (32:37):
lots of people came over and said hi, and some
people were friendly faces, alsopeople I've worked with before
and so it that was reallyawesome. That was the best
welcoming to a community. Well,
Mike Journee (32:55):
you were a bit of a rock star at that point. So,
yeah, I think it was to beexpected. So, you know, we you
and I have talked before aroundthe fact that that an educators
job is is a political job, fromthe from spell the bell, just
about everything you do in aclassroom is determined or
dictated by an elected official,whether that's a school board
(33:17):
member or whether That's anadministrator hired by that
school board or a statelegislator, the governor,
whoever it may be, those folksall have a big say in what
happens in your classrooms. How?
How would you say that the yourunion could best support folks
in this in this crazy politicalclimate that we find
Unknown (33:37):
ourselves in? First of all, I think just knowing that
they're there as a point ofcontact, a point of
collaboration, a safety blanket,is it's good to know, and
especially when don't know,don't know what's going to
(33:57):
happen next. I would have neverimagined this would be a
situation, and so I have no ideawhat other things are going to
come at us down the road, but Ithink sometimes for educators,
the path of least resistance isis sometimes just so much
(34:18):
easier, because we have so muchto Do. We have so much on our
plates. We have so many thingsgoing on in our brain. We're
asked probably 500 plusquestions a day and and
sometimes I think just volume upwith flow is is easy for a lot
of educators, but I think ininstances where they feel like,
(34:47):
fundamentally, what they'reasked to do, or where they're
where they feel, there is adisagreement that affects the
students, but they're supported.
Being defending their position.
Educators are the ones in theclassrooms working with
(35:08):
students, eight hours a day,five days a week. We see the
behaviors we see fall, learningobstacles. We see that physical
or proximity obstacles in ourclassrooms. We see, if anything,
(35:29):
that's going on firsthand withthe students, which is what this
is all about. We see that, and Ithink all educators voices are
extremely important whendeciding what goes on in the
classrooms and in schools, and Ithink to be supported by the
union teachers would know that,but their voices are extremely
(35:53):
valuable.
Mike Journee (35:54):
Yeah, one of the things that strikes me
throughout through what you'vebeen saying, and something that
I've heard many times before, iseducators do everything they can
to meet their students wherethey are right. They do
everything they can to meettheir students where they are
and provide the kind ofeducation, the kind of support,
the kind of the kind of lovethat that student needs in that
(36:16):
particular moment or with theirparticular station in life,
whatever, whatever theirsituation at home may be, never
the compassion and the theattuned nature of educators to
what's going on with theirstudents is something that, that
is that that is just a wonderfulthing for me, and it makes
educators one of the mostimportant people in our society,
(36:38):
I think. And so my hat's off toto to you and to all of your
colleagues for that and forrecognizing that and for
standing up for that. I mean,the decisions that you made this
spring were not easy ones by anystretch and so but, but you had
your principles and and, and itwas, and I think it was
something that you mentioned,it's easier sometimes for for
(37:00):
educators to take the the pathof least resistance, and I
recognize that and understandthat, but at the same time,
seeing you and what you've done,I would imagine, really inspired
a lot of your colleagues aroundnot only here in Idaho, but
around the around the country.
So thank you for that. I haveone last question for you. I
assume that your students atEast junior high here in Boise
(37:20):
will be greeted by everyone. Iswelcome here banner in your
classroom this fall.
Unknown (37:28):
Oh yeah, she's already in there. She's in my little
blistered bag. I haven't hung itup yet, but, and it'll be the
same poster. Yep, yeah, thatposter means a lot to me, and I,
all my students from last yearsigned the back of it, and yes,
it has a lot of meaning for me,and it pays my heart
Mike Journee (37:50):
well. I think that's a as good a place as we
can leave it. Sarah and AMA,thank you for joining us on the
IAEA reporter podcast. Again,you're you're an inspiration for
folks, not just educators, notjust students, but a lot of a
lot of us, regular people aroundthe country, for what you've
done. I'll just say, you know,anything that we can do at the
(38:12):
IEA to help you in your journeyas an educator, we want to be
there for you. Anything we cando to help you continue
spreading this message, we wantto be there with you, and so
thank you for everything you'vedone, and good luck with your
new job, good luck with youryour new school and and
everything that comes to you inthe coming years.
Unknown (38:32):
Thank you much. I really appreciate it.
Mike Journee (38:42):
You thank you for listening to this episode of The
IEA reporter podcast, and thanksto Sarah Inami for taking time
out of her summer break to talkwith us. Please watch for
updates about new podcastepisodes on IAEA social media
channels or sign up to receiveIEA reporter email updates on
our website@idahoea.org I'm MikeJournee, and as always, I hope
(39:03):
you join me in thanking Idaho'spublic school educators for
everything they do for ourstate's students, families and
public schools. You
Welcome to the IEA reporter podcast, a regular
discussion about the news andevents important to Idaho
Education Association membersand those who value public
education.IEA members are publicschool educators from all over
the state and members of thelargest union in Idaho. They're
Idaho's most important educationexperts, and they use their
influence to fight for a free,quality and equitable public
(00:35):
education for every student inthe state. I'm Mike Journee,
communications director at DIAand I'll be your host for this
episode today. Our guest isSarah ainama, the former West
ADA school district educator whomade national and international
headlines earlier this year forrefusing to bow to her school
district administration'sdirective to take down her
(00:55):
classroom poster affirming theimportance of inclusion and
diversity after her stand madeheadlines. Sarah story and her
now famous, everyone is welcomehere. Poster became a rallying
point for those eager to supportstudents, educators and public
education. In fact, the poster'sinclusive imagery, featuring
hearts and hands of varied skintones, became known on popular e
(01:18):
commerce sites as the Idahoteacher Poster The IEA reporter
podcast caught up with Sarahfrom home during summer break to
talk with her about herexperiences and what comes next
for her.
Sarah Namo, welcome to the IEAreporter podcast. We're really
(01:39):
excited to have you here. Thanksfor joining us today.
Sarah Inama (01:41):
Thanks for having me on
Mike Journee (01:42):
you bet you know Sarah. I'm going to assume for
the moment that most peoplelistening to this podcast are
going to know a bit about youand your experience that you've
had over the last severalmonths. I know it's been quite a
2025 for you so far. So I wantedto start off with where things
stand with you professionally.
Last we heard publicly was thatyou had resigned from your
position as a sixth grade worldcivilizations teacher at Lewis
(02:05):
Clark Middle School in the WestADA School District. Do you have
any news for us about whereyou're going to be teaching this
summer or this fall? Excuse me,me,
Sarah Inama (02:16):
yes, I'm excited to say that I accepted a teaching
position at East Junior High inthe Boise school district
teaching World Studies. That'sreally fantastic news. I'm glad
to hear that. I know it's been areally rough spring for you, and
so I'm glad to I'm glad you'regoing to land in such a great
place. I've heard great thingsabout that school and the
administrators there, so I'mglad to hear that for you.
(02:37):
Thanks. Yeah, I'm a soul. Youknow your stand to keep your
everyone is welcome here. Bannerin your classroom in the West,
Ada school district becamenational and even international
news.
Mike Journee (02:49):
How have the last few months been for you?
Personally,
Sarah Inama (02:52):
it has been, it's been a little overwhelming. I
sometimes feel bad that I can'tget back to everyone. I've
received a lot of mail, likeactual snail mail, which has
been really awesome, lots ofemails, and I've tried to get
back to as many people aspossible, but people are
(03:13):
listening, and they sent mesomething. I hope they know that
I I appreciate what they sentme, and and and I have read
everything, so I'm just reallythankful for that. I you know,
this is also in the midst ofjust grading 150 papers and
tests and planning other units.
So trying to balance that timekind of made it a little bit
(03:38):
overwhelming, but also it wasreally validating that so many
people in our community, in ourstate, in this country and like
this world, feel the same wayabout this message. I mean, I
think it's something a lot ofpeople can get behind and are
(04:00):
kind of astonished that this iseven being considered a
controversial message, which tomany people, it's obviously not.
And so just the support and howmuch I've been reached out to by
people is has been reallyawesome.
Mike Journee (04:19):
That's great to hear. I imagine it's a bit
surreal. One minute you'reteaching your sixth graders, and
next minute you're a middle ofthe spotlight for better or
worse, right?
Sarah Inama (04:29):
Yeah, totally
Mike Journee (04:31):
Well, to be honest with you, we we totally
underestimated what yoursituation meant to people. I'll
be honest any social media poststhe IEA did about you or your
poster just went nuts in waysthat we just didn't. We didn't
expect. What do you think it isabout this moment in time in our
society that made your standresonate with people so much?
Unknown (04:56):
Yeah, I was just thinking about this. I just
think I. Yeah, there are a lotof people today in this
environment that are confused,infuriated, terrified about what
is being considered political.
It seems like what is makingpeople frustrated is that things
(05:19):
that are not controversial arebeing considered political. At
this point, that's where we haveto start standing up and drawing
a line, setting a boundary,saying this, no, this is not
going to be political. This isnot political, and we need to
walk it back.
Mike Journee (05:42):
Yeah, things, things we might have assumed to
be truth in a modern societythat suddenly, suddenly no
longer are being consideredtruth for folks, whether it's
scientific facts or the color ofsomeone's skin or whatever it
may be, and how they and howthey're seen by other people.
(06:03):
It's, it's really, really quite,quite astonishing to see how
quickly things have unraveled.
Unknown (06:10):
Yeah, I think some people just have that moment
where they're like, What are wedoing here? And I think it
really, really gets to peoplewhen they see children affected
by that
Mike Journee (06:23):
absolutely, absolutely
Unknown (06:24):
children that were, you know, they trust. These are
places schools where people aretrusting adults to make sure
that their children's well beingis at the foremost and at the
forefront and and so I thinkthat's really upsetting to see
(06:45):
that adults and people inpositions of authority aren't
upholding those things.
Absolutely.
Mike Journee (06:53):
We're gonna we're gonna talk a little bit more
about some of the reactions thatyou saw here in a little while,
whether it's from your studentsor from from grown ups. But
first of all, I want to talk alittle bit about the image that
that was at the center of allthis. It's in fact, the image is
pretty well known now. In fact,on E commerce sites and T shirts
and posters and other things arebeing labeled with Idaho
(07:16):
teacher. Everyone is welcome.
Unknown (07:19):
Yeah. Were you? Were you
Mike Journee (07:21):
surprised by people's reaction to that image
and the notoriety of the of theimage? Now,
Unknown (07:29):
I mean, I, I think it's a beautiful message, and I, I
love to see it everywhere. I seepeople wearing the T shirts when
I'm out walking on the GreenBelt, or I see the yard signs in
people's yards riding my bikearound, and I've seen it painted
on storefront windows. Peoplehave sent me text messages of
(07:52):
people wearing the T shirts inSpain and Europe, and I mean,
all over. And I just think it'scool, like I I think would be
awesome to keep this messagegoing. And I just think it's
such a beautiful message that isso simple, but it has a lot of
(08:14):
meaning behind it. It's been,it's been really great to see
how far and wide it's beenspread.
Mike Journee (08:19):
Yeah, I'll share a personal note. I was wearing my
T shirt in my front yard theother day, and a woman stopped
and said, I love your T shirtand and she asked me where I got
it, you know, and everything. Ijust told her, it's online. You
can search Idaho teacher,everyone, everyone is welcome.
You'll find it. So, so I'm sureshe went home and and searched
for one, and maybe has one ofher own. So that was, it was
(08:41):
really neat. Well, one of thethings that's really stood out
for me throughout this wholeepisode is kind of the tone deaf
nature of the West data, schoolboard and administration over
the whole thing. You know, Ithink to this day, they're
unwilling to admit any mistakes,and they continue to double down
on the position they'readjusting policies and that kind
of thing right now, but, butpeople are still concerned about
(09:04):
what they're going to do. Wereyou surprised at their position
and their unwillingness to backdown on things?
Unknown (09:12):
Yeah, I guess the first time we anyone ever really heard
them address it in a publicsense would be on the ranch
podcast, and that, I meanlistening to Marcus Myers talk
on that just blew my mind. Icouldn't believe I mean his
(09:38):
reasonings for saying that thisposter is a violation of their
policy. I just couldn't believeit. And then, you know, the memo
sent out to staff saying thateverybody needs to be a team
player, and when people aren't ateam player, and. Know how to
(10:00):
follow the rules of the game.
It's confusing. Which I waslike, Guess it is confusing. I
mean, I that's the whole point.
I I was like, I, as a teacher,Love rules. I love them. You
know, I've read the new those,those policies every year that
(10:20):
I've worked there, I've signedacknowledgement forms of them
like I understand thosepolicies, but I still, to this
day, will argue that my posteris not a violation of what that
policy is written out to be. Andthe whole time, I really didn't
(10:41):
take any of this stuffpersonally, and I didn't feel
like personally I talked withthem, I guess. But I just was
really upset for the students tosee this. I mean, how
heartbreaking for my like allthese students to see that the
(11:01):
people that are supposed to beprotecting them and standing up
for all of them are reacting inthis way.
Mike Journee (11:11):
Well, Sarah, for for the few people out there who
probably don't understand whatwe're talking about with this
image, describe for us theposter and why you put it up in
your classroom to begin
Unknown (11:24):
with? Yeah, well, I I've just always had a lot of
things in my classroom, like Ihave just felt like I'll spend
eight hours a day, five days aweek in this room, and just
observing the students that I'vehad, I've just kind of
(11:46):
accumulated decor that I feellike makes the room feel cozy
and addresses, you know, thingsthat I've seen Like I've seen
students feel no confidence inthemselves, socially or
academically, and so I like tohave a poster that, because I'm
(12:09):
rooting for you, and I believeyou can. I believe you can
things like that. And you know,I've, I've seen discriminatory
comments be a problem in theschool that I was working
naming. So I thought it was avalid poster to hang up to just
(12:33):
clearly say that everyone iswelcome in my classroom. And I
liked the image of the handswith different skin tones. Those
skin tones look like students inmy classroom. And I think
representation matters and andnot just I think that it does.
It's been proven that forstudents to see that they're
(12:55):
represented is important too,especially when they all act and
are different. So I never in amillion years imagine that that
sign would cause any issue. Ithought was a beautiful message.
So it's been in my classroompretty much since I started
(13:17):
teaching, probably five yearsand the day that I was told to
take it down were, you know, Iwas visited by my principal,
Monty Hyatt, and my assistantprincipal, Heather Fisher,
during my lunch period. And theysaid, You know, I need to take
(13:41):
it down by the end of the daythen. And then I have four more
cost periods left after that.
And I just was really sad aboutit. I could I it totally caught
me off guard and and itblindsided me, and it was just
(14:04):
super I don't know how else toexplain it, but I was just super
sad
Mike Journee (14:10):
about it. And did your students the rest of that
day, you took it down. At thatmoment when they asked you to
take
Unknown (14:18):
it down, I took it down. I mean, by the time they
left my classroom, I had aboutfive minutes left in my lunch
break. So then this periodstarted, and I had to take a
little moment in the hallway togather myself. My students were
concerned about why I wasfeeling so upset. Whatever I
(14:42):
didn't like directly address it,but I did have to stand up and
take a poster down off the wall,and I didn't put it away. I just
put it on the back table in myclassroom, and at the end of
class, I. Some students werelooking at the poster, and said,
(15:04):
You have to take this posterdown. And I said, Yeah, Lisa,
why do you take this down? Said,I mean, at that moment, I was
just like, I am not i i am notspeaking to them, and as part of
(15:24):
this district, I am not I'm notanswering their question in a
way that's going to protect thisdistrict, because I do not agree
in any way in what I'm doingright now by taking this poster
down, and I'm not going to beassociated with the message that
that sends to my students. Youknow, I just said, I don't know.
(15:46):
That doesn't follow theirpolicy. For some reason I just
said, I don't know. I just leftit
Mike Journee (15:53):
pretty so your students immediately noticed and
started asking questions. One,yeah, yeah, that's, that's,
that's pretty poignant stuffright there, and the fact that
you didn't quite understand howto answer the question, I think,
is, is, is very telling andunderstandable.
Unknown (16:15):
Yeah, well, no way was I going to say to them what I
was told I wasn't going to saythem, these students that are
looking at me and the studentsthat were looking at me and
asking these questionsliterally. And I'm not just
saying this for shock value.
We're all students of colorrepresented on that poster. And
they said, Why is this posterneed to come down? And no way
(16:38):
was I going to say to them,because this poster is just an
opinion, and it doesn't allowfor people with other opinion,
other opinions or differingopinions. Wasn't allow for their
viewpoint. What kind of messagedoes that send to the students
(17:00):
that you've worked with, thatyou have built relationships
with, that have grown to trustyou, for you to say to them,
Mike Journee (17:13):
right? It's tell us a little more specifically
about what, what you were toldin that initial moment, about
why, why? Why it had to comedown. We haven't really talked
about that directly. What, what,what did the the principal and
assistant principal say whenyou, when you, when they came
into your room,
Unknown (17:29):
they said, so we're just having to go around to
rooms and have some posters comedown that are being considered a
violation of our districtpolicy, and they're like, you
know, things that have like,hands on them. And I was like,
(17:56):
Is this the poster that you'retalking about? And it's very
obviously right above our heads.
And they're like, Yeah, likethat one, and they turned right
to the other one in the at thefront of my classroom that said,
everyone in this classroom iswelcome, valued, loved it, all
words on it, but that one, andthey said is just, it's
(18:21):
considered an opinion. And Iimmediately was like, that
sounds racist to me. This isjust an opinion that's racist.
And we're like, yeah, we knowit's a bummer, right? You have
until the end of the day to takeit down.
Mike Journee (18:44):
So they so they were going around spot checking
rooms, or that's what they toldyou that they were doing. I
guess my question is, more, doyou feel like they knew that
that poster was up and they cameto talk to you specifically
about it? Or do you really thinkthat they were going around all
the rooms, looking at theposters in the rooms and telling
people to take things down.
Unknown (19:03):
I think they had already gone through people's
rooms and knew which postersneeded to come down. And then
when they came to me, they knewwhich posters they needed to
have come down in migram
Mike Journee (19:15):
but initially you did take it down. You felt
terrible about it. You gotimmediate questions from your
students about it, yeah, butthat weekend, I understand you
put it back up,
Unknown (19:27):
yeah, I just could not get it out of my head and it
just, I just did not feel itjust did not sit well with me at
all. And so Saturday morning, Iwas like, I am going to put that
sign back up, and I want to putit up right now. So right over
(19:50):
to school and hit back up and aand then I sat at my school
computer right then and sent anemail. To my principal, saying,
you know, I don't agree withwhat you your explanation for
why this poster needs to comedown. I don't agree that it's a
violation of this policy. And Iput it back up. And I think, you
(20:16):
know, in a roundabout way, Isaid, I think it is your job to
protect these students againstwhatever reasoning it is you
came to me within the firstplace, and it's and it's if
you're not going to do your job,it is my job as a teacher to to
protect them, and that's whatI'm doing. And I thought for
(20:42):
sure I would get fired.
Mike Journee (20:43):
You did? You thought in that moment you would
get fired? Yeah, you, I wasgonna talk to you about this a
little bit later, but, but youwere not a member of the Union
at that moment. You're a memberof the Union now we joined kind
of in the aftermath of all this.
And I wanted to, do you feellike, if you had been a member
of the Union, that they wouldhave, would have approached you
(21:05):
in the same way? I
Unknown (21:08):
don't know. I've never thought about that. I'll have no
idea, but I do know. So after Isent that email to my principal,
he came to me about followingMonday, and said, you know, this
is still a violation. Youkeeping it up is
(21:31):
insubordination, and I'd reallylike you to take it down. And
said, Nope, not interested inthat. And he said, Hey, well,
then I'm gonna have to get otherpeople involved. And said, do
whatever you can do. And so heset up a meeting with him, me
and Marcus Myers, the chiefacademic officer. And I said,
(21:54):
Yeah, but I'm going to havesomebody else in that meeting
too. And I I asked one of theunion representatives at our
school to sit in that meeting totake notes, which I'm very
thankful to her that she didthat, because I just, I mean, I
could not believe the reasoningsthat they were giving me, and I
I just needed to have somebodyelse there to make sure it was
(22:21):
being recorded.
Mike Journee (22:25):
You I saw one district representative talk
about this, where they wereclaiming that you intended to
cause a stir, that that you wentto the press with the intent of
of stirring things up. And let'stalk a little bit about that.
They also talked about thetiming. The timing was, was was
such to to to create the max,the maximum stir around what
(22:45):
was, what's going on in publiceducation these days. What's
your reaction to that? Silly
Unknown (22:50):
for them to say that I never in a million years would
have ever thought that thiswould happen. I would never,
ever want to be a part ofanything like this, ever like I
think what they said, and Ithink their reasonings, and I
think their reactions to it aredisgusting, and it's
(23:10):
embarrassing for for the schooldistrict. And I would have never
planned that. I mean, I I, all Ican do is just circle back to
think about my students. I wouldhave never, ever wanted anything
like that to ever be put intheir brains. I mean, I think
for some of them, that was thefirst time they ever had to sit
(23:30):
and contemplate about the factthat some people think that it's
just an opinion that everyoneshould be welcome there based on
the way that they look and itis. I I'm, I'm still so sick and
saddened that this situation hadto be the first time for some of
(23:51):
them to realize that some peoplethink that this is an opinion.
So I would have, I would havenever planned this. And that was
my one qualm about going to thenews with this is that I really
didn't want my students to knowwhat the district was saying
because it was hurtful. I didn'twant to go to the news to be
(24:13):
like, Look at me. Look at whatI've done. I wanted to go to the
news to be like, Look at what isaffecting your students work.
These are people's children intheir classroom and the people
that are in charge of their wellbeing. These. These are the
decisions and the reasons thatwill get me for this. And this
is an extremely slippery slope.
I feel like this, I just willnot be a part of accepting this
Mike Journee (24:41):
a very brave stance. I'm really curious what
the range of reactions were fromyour colleagues, while all this
was kind of playing out, I'massuming that they knew what was
happening. I'm assuming that wegot out and and what was the
range of reactions you saw fromthem? Some
Unknown (24:58):
people, you know, there's a hand. Full of people
that were very supportive.
They'd come check in on me andsend me messages of support.
There were some colleagues thatI started to have less and less
of a relationship with, just,you know, and it was also the
end of the year, so, you know,we're very busy, and we barely
(25:20):
have two minutes to run to thebathroom. So, you know, I don't
blame anybody for not being moreinvolved in this, but it did at
some point, at sometimes feellike I kind of was in this
alone. Yeah, what I did after,you know, the abundance of
(25:47):
emails I received there, therewere a lot of emails from other
teachers in the district thatwere working at other schools
that said, I have this assigned,very similar to this in my
costume, I support you so thatthat was a lot very recent,
Mike Journee (26:07):
and I'll say your your new employer, the Boise
School District, came out reallyearly after you went public with
this and with a statement ofsupport saying that this, this
is the kind of thing that youwant teachers to do. I thought
that was, that was a prettyextraordinary position, given,
given what was going on withyour school district.
Unknown (26:26):
Yeah, that was, that was so nice. I mean, that really
got me in my field, like,that's the whole point. This is
not a message that should be aviolation, that should we need
to be dissected to figure outwhat the what the underlying
message is. This isn't somethingthat is controversial, like this
(26:50):
is a message that is beautiful,and it if this isn't the basis
of public education, I don'tknow what is, and I I think it's
something that people shouldn'tbe afraid of. I think it's
something that we should behappy to be able to say, Yeah,
Mike Journee (27:09):
you, you did resign your position with West
ADA school district over thisbefore the end of the school
year. You stayed on through theend of the year. I do believe,
but, but you did resign yourposition with them. No, you
would not be returning to theirschool. And your resignation
letter, you said the schooldistrict is more interested in
not alienating people with aracist view of our students,
(27:29):
rather than supporting me and myclassroom. That's a pretty
that's a pretty extraordinarything. Can you talk a little bit
more about that? And if you canput it in the context of what's
going on in the larger picturearound the politicization of
public education, what'shappening in our state, the
policies, you know, there's theyreferenced a specific policy.
They also referenced a state lawthat that bans critical race
(27:54):
theory, the false narrative ofcritical race theory. Can you
talk a little bit about thatperspective and that phrase that
you put it you put into thatresignation letter in the bigger
picture for us, yeah, I mean,
Unknown (28:10):
the the theme of the response that I got from my
principals, district officials,even our superintendent over
there was that they were tryingto protect me, and I was I. I
kept saying, protect me fromwhat nobody has complained about
(28:32):
this poster, not one student,not one colleague, not one
parent, and you're trying toprotect me, just in case some
parent were to complain aboutthis poster, and I said to our
superintendent, I said, ifsomeone came and complained to
you about this poster and said,I don't think that there should
be a sign that says everyone iswelcome here, because I think
(28:55):
that's just an opinion, then, asa School District, should know
ahead of time and always whattheir fundamental values are.
And when somebody says, I don'tagree with that, they should
have enough conviction to say,well, that's public education.
(29:17):
If you think, if you have adiffering opinion of everyone is
welcome here, then publiceducation is not the place for
you. I mean, I always thoughtthat that was the case. I always
thought that administrators andofficials in public education
(29:37):
would only have gotten intopublic education because they
believed that. I don't know whythey would be so worried about
standing up for that to ahandful of noisy, bigoted people
in the community. And I thinkthings in this country that make
(29:57):
us really proud to be Americansare. Are things or times where
people have fought for thoseinalienable rights for other
people, and I think it takes areally patriotic and strong
person to stand up and fight forthose rights for other people,
(30:20):
if we only considered aboutwhether or not we have those
yourself. That's privilege.
Mike Journee (30:27):
That's a really fantastic point. It's very
interesting, and Iwholeheartedly agree with you.
So Sarah, you became a unionmember after this concert
already started. Tell us alittle bit about that. What most
of the folks are going to belistening here are IEA members.
Tell us about why you joinedtheir union, your union now.
Unknown (30:49):
Yeah, it has. Had been something that was always on my
mind. I wasn't. I didn't justall of a sudden think about
joining the union when thisstarted to happen. It just, you
know, I talked to unionrepresentatives at our school,
and had been really supported bythem, even though I wasn't at
(31:12):
that point a member of theUnion, and I think it provided a
little bit of a community that Ididn't know existed, or I didn't
know would would be so great tobe a part of. It's it's nice to
have a community of educatorsand people that believe in the
(31:37):
beauty of public education cometogether to remember what that
is.
Mike Journee (31:46):
That's right, and I really do have a big question
mark around the fact as towhether or not they would have
come at you so hard if you hadbeen a member of the Union
before. There's power in being aunion member. Your first
exposure to the Union at largewas at the IEA delegate assembly
in April, where you joined thedelegates in the hall and
(32:06):
received a standing ovation. Howdid that make you feel as a new
member?
Unknown (32:11):
Yeah, that was really awesome that I did not know what
I was walking into. I wasinvited by our Region Director,
and he just said, you know, stopby if you get a second. And I
walked into the back of thishuge auditorium, and there must
(32:31):
have been, I mean, how manypeople do you think were there?
Mike Journee (32:34):
There's, well, there was about 400 Yeah. And
Unknown (32:37):
lots of people came over and said hi, and some
people were friendly faces, alsopeople I've worked with before
and so it that was reallyawesome. That was the best
welcoming to a community. Well,
Mike Journee (32:55):
you were a bit of a rock star at that point. So,
yeah, I think it was to beexpected. So, you know, we you
and I have talked before aroundthe fact that that an educators
job is is a political job, fromthe from spell the bell, just
about everything you do in aclassroom is determined or
dictated by an elected official,whether that's a school board
(33:17):
member or whether That's anadministrator hired by that
school board or a statelegislator, the governor,
whoever it may be, those folksall have a big say in what
happens in your classrooms. How?
How would you say that the yourunion could best support folks
in this in this crazy politicalclimate that we find
Unknown (33:37):
ourselves in? First of all, I think just knowing that
they're there as a point ofcontact, a point of
collaboration, a safety blanket,is it's good to know, and
especially when don't know,don't know what's going to
(33:57):
happen next. I would have neverimagined this would be a
situation, and so I have no ideawhat other things are going to
come at us down the road, but Ithink sometimes for educators,
the path of least resistance isis sometimes just so much
(34:18):
easier, because we have so muchto Do. We have so much on our
plates. We have so many thingsgoing on in our brain. We're
asked probably 500 plusquestions a day and and
sometimes I think just volume upwith flow is is easy for a lot
of educators, but I think ininstances where they feel like,
(34:47):
fundamentally, what they'reasked to do, or where they're
where they feel, there is adisagreement that affects the
students, but they're supported.
Being defending their position.
Educators are the ones in theclassrooms working with
(35:08):
students, eight hours a day,five days a week. We see the
behaviors we see fall, learningobstacles. We see that physical
or proximity obstacles in ourclassrooms. We see, if anything,
(35:29):
that's going on firsthand withthe students, which is what this
is all about. We see that, and Ithink all educators voices are
extremely important whendeciding what goes on in the
classrooms and in schools, and Ithink to be supported by the
union teachers would know that,but their voices are extremely
(35:53):
valuable.
Mike Journee (35:54):
Yeah, one of the things that strikes me
throughout through what you'vebeen saying, and something that
I've heard many times before, iseducators do everything they can
to meet their students wherethey are right. They do
everything they can to meettheir students where they are
and provide the kind ofeducation, the kind of support,
the kind of the kind of lovethat that student needs in that
(36:16):
particular moment or with theirparticular station in life,
whatever, whatever theirsituation at home may be, never
the compassion and the theattuned nature of educators to
what's going on with theirstudents is something that, that
is that that is just a wonderfulthing for me, and it makes
educators one of the mostimportant people in our society,
(36:38):
I think. And so my hat's off toto to you and to all of your
colleagues for that and forrecognizing that and for
standing up for that. I mean,the decisions that you made this
spring were not easy ones by anystretch and so but, but you had
your principles and and, and itwas, and I think it was
something that you mentioned,it's easier sometimes for for
(37:00):
educators to take the the pathof least resistance, and I
recognize that and understandthat, but at the same time,
seeing you and what you've done,I would imagine, really inspired
a lot of your colleagues aroundnot only here in Idaho, but
around the around the country.
So thank you for that. I haveone last question for you. I
assume that your students atEast junior high here in Boise
(37:20):
will be greeted by everyone. Iswelcome here banner in your
classroom this fall.
Unknown (37:28):
Oh yeah, she's already in there. She's in my little
blistered bag. I haven't hung itup yet, but, and it'll be the
same poster. Yep, yeah, thatposter means a lot to me, and I,
all my students from last yearsigned the back of it, and yes,
it has a lot of meaning for me,and it pays my heart
Mike Journee (37:50):
well. I think that's a as good a place as we
can leave it. Sarah and AMA,thank you for joining us on the
IAEA reporter podcast. Again,you're you're an inspiration for
folks, not just educators, notjust students, but a lot of a
lot of us, regular people aroundthe country, for what you've
done. I'll just say, you know,anything that we can do at the
(38:12):
IEA to help you in your journeyas an educator, we want to be
there for you. Anything we cando to help you continue
spreading this message, we wantto be there with you, and so
thank you for everything you'vedone, and good luck with your
new job, good luck with youryour new school and and
everything that comes to you inthe coming years.
Unknown (38:32):
Thank you much. I really appreciate it.
Mike Journee (38:42):
You thank you for listening to this episode of The
IEA reporter podcast, and thanksto Sarah Inami for taking time
out of her summer break to talkwith us. Please watch for
updates about new podcastepisodes on IAEA social media
channels or sign up to receiveIEA reporter email updates on
our website@idahoea.org I'm MikeJournee, and as always, I hope
(39:03):
you join me in thanking Idaho'spublic school educators for
everything they do for ourstate's students, families and
public schools. You
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