A North Hollywood elementary school was the site of a possible hate crime earlier this month.
Saticoy Elementary School, which is planning on holding an LGBTQ Pride event on June 2, has been the site of controversy for more than a week, with parents planning a boycott of the Gay Pride and Rainbow Day assembly.
While the parent group says the topics around sexuality and gender are unfit for children, the Los Angeles Unified School District told KTLA earlier this month that the event is intended to highlight diversity.
Teachers will read students Mary Hoffman’s book “The Great Big Book of Families,” which Goodreads called “a celebration of the diverse fabric of kith and kin the world over.”
On May 22, however, the debate may have escalated, as school officials discovered that an LGBTQ flag had been burned in what the Los Angeles Police Department said is being investigated as a “vandalism hate crime,” according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
The planter in which the flag was placed was also damaged, the Daily News said.
A group called Saticoy Elementary Parents, which encourages parents to “keep your kids home and innocent” on June 2, has been vocally against the assembly, though one parent told the Daily News that the group is not responsible.
“None of us parents are aware of who the person might have been who set the flag on fire,” said the parent, identified only as Ana. “None of us would jump the fence or set the flag on fire because we don’t want to bring that negativity to the school where our children are.”
There are no suspects in the flag burning, the Daily News reported.