Promotion or punishment? That’s the question about the latest move in the controversial yearbook put out at Downing Middle School in the Lewisville Independent School District.
Teacher Kayla Mick was ordered out of Downing just days before the end of the school year. She was reportedly not allowed to talk to parents or students while Lewisville ISD investigated the yearbook she supervised that year.
On the cover were several stickers as a part of a theme chosen by students. One sticker has the phrase, "I can’t breathe." The other reads, "Science Is Real, Black Lives Matter, No Human Is Illegal, Love Is Love, Women’s Rights Are Human Rights and Kindness Is Everything.”
Students said they approved all of the choices, but Mick brought the controversial stickers to the table for consideration. Still, they said it wasn’t her alone that created the cover, but a student decision.
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“The principal signed off on the yearbook. That's the big thing no one is talking about. The principal signed off on this,” said Stephanie Bell, a resident of Flower Mound who has advocated on behalf of Mick.
Still, some parents were upset and now we’ve learned Mick won’t return to Downing in the fall but will move to Lewisville Harmon High. The district saying in a statement: “It would be unfair to characterize this as anything other than a great opportunity for advancement for Ms. Mick, and one that she has expressed excitement over.”
“I was hurt for the teacher, and I spoke to the teacher on the phone, she was hurt,” said Bell.
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So were parents who didn’t like the political messages on the cover, and students who didn’t like how Mick was made to leave.
Lewisville ISD is likely in that mix too, caught in the middle, on the controversy that surrounded a yearbook that made history rather than document it.
