The Essex County District School Board voted almost unanimously in favour of flying Pride flags outside grade schools in June.
Public Grade schools will now join high schools in flying the flags for a minimum of one week during Pride Month — Vice Chairperson Julia Burgess brought the motion forward at a previous meeting.
Chairperson Jessica Sartori says the move reaffirms the board's assertion that it's okay to be different.
"It's an awesome symbol of what our board stands for and some of those things are inclusivity, wellbeing for students and staff, and that it's a welcoming environment for all students," she says.
The board discussed possible implications of the move at length, but at the end of the day the decision moved forward.
Sartori agreed that many questions revolving around the need for more education on the subject are valid — she hopes it will open more discussion in the future.
"I think that would be fantastic and our goal is always about what's age appropriate for that student and I think that's another good point that's a conversation starter as well," says Sartori.
Melissa Piva shared an experience that inspired her children's book Rory's Rainbow about a toy dinosaur and gender expression with the board — her daughter came out to her as "gender creative" in 2015 at just five years old.
Now eight, she struggled to fit in at her previous school and administrators struggled to accommodate her. Piva pulled her and her siblings from school in 2017; they have since moved schools so she could start fresh and just be a little girl.
The artist and author says the move is a positive step, but more can be done to make schools more accepting environments.
"Whether it's a plaque in the front hall everybody should have some kind of representation, it shouldn't be only certain social issue, in at least some small way all minorities within the school should be represented," says Piva.
Sartori says all 56 grade schools will participate beginning this year.
Windsor Pride Fest will be footing the bill for the flags.
Trustee Linda Qin was the lone opposition to the move.