EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The El Paso Genders and Sexualities Alliance Board, a student-run organization, is calling for El Paso Independent School District Superintendent Diana Sayavedra to step down.
The group held signs at Tuesday’s EPISD School Board meeting and called for Sayavadra to step down during public comment.
This after the group says hate speech was used at a protest at El Paso High School against LGBTQ students.
The El Paso Genders and Sexualities Alliance Board Founder Aurelio “Lio” Valdez Jr. shared an email he sent to Sayavedra where it claims the hate speech used was “God does not accept you as a homosexual. God does not accept you and your sin” as well as “You are going to die”.
Valdez says he spoke with the Assistant Principal the day after the protest at El Paso High and during that conversation he contacted the FBI.
Valdez says it took the superintendent a week and a half to respond to the email.
In the email response, which was posted on the social media, the superindentent responded by saying the individuals protesting have a First Amendment right to free speech. She also went on to say that they do not have the right to be on district property.
“If they do come on to district property, they will be removed. They also do not have a right to threaten our students with physical harm. According to our chief of Police no students were threatened with physical harm at either protest,” said the email sent to Valdez from Sayavedra.
The Genders and Sexualities Alliance Board says the superintendent should have done more.
“For the kids, the students that experienced hate speech, we just don’t think that’s fair that, that’s taken lightly,” Jeylin Moreno, senior at El Paso High School and the Chair of the Genders and Sexualities Alliance Board.
The board said they normally have mediation and reach out to the district and superintendent in these situations but says they will no longer do that.
“We’re done. We’re going straight to lawsuits; we’re going straight to legal actions. We’re done with EPISD,” Aurelio Valdez Jr.
EPISD sent KTSM 9 News a statement after Valdez and Moreno spoke during public comment at Tuesday’s EPISD School Board meeting calling for the superintendent to resign.
“El Paso ISD takes concerns expressed by students seriously and looks into every matter thoroughly with the full breadth of our resources. We remain committed to ensuring the safety and security of all of our students and staff, and providing an equitable and inclusive environment at all of our campuses,” the statement read.
