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There seems to be confusion regarding the response of the Cedar Falls School District to the event that took place at Peet Junior High on Sept. 23. That event, at this point, has been well chronicled here at The Iowa Standard.

In fact, one of the stories published by The Iowa Standard was titled, “Cedar Falls District says something like gay pride event will not happen again.”

That may no longer be the case, however.

When The Iowa Standard reached out to the district for explanation, The Iowa Standard referenced the event as a “gay pride” event. We asked, “pictures and video of the event clearly make it appear to be a ‘gay pride’ event. Why were parents not notified this would be happening on school grounds during school time?”

That question went unanswered in the original email as well as follow-up emails. However, its premise was never disputed. The premise being, of course, that the event turned into a “gay pride” event.

That same email included a question as to whether the district was aware this event would be happening. To that, Darst responded:

“The event, as it took place, was not expected nor approved as it became something different than ‘show kindness’. We have reviewed how we can and will handle situations like this better in the future and something like this/or similar, will not take place again.”

The event, which was referenced to as a “gay pride” event in the email Darst was responding to, was not expected nor approved by the district. The district reviewed how it can and will handle situations like it (events) better in the future. And, she added, something like it or similar will not take place again.

That is how this Iowa Standard headline was birthed:

“Cedar Falls District says something like gay pride event will not happen again”

That same quote Darst provided to The Iowa Standard was provided to KCRG. However, the response from the district seems different in a Waterloo Courier article posted on Oct. 4:

“This type of event, in the sense (of) student groups having something like this, can happen again. But it needs to be set up in a way that students don’t feel that they have to walk through or that they have to engage in it.”

Does this mean that “something like this/or similar, will take place again?”

It’s a question parents in the Cedar Falls School District deserve to know the answer to.

In the interest of being fair and transparent, The Iowa Standard is including the original email with all of our questions in this article. The Iowa Standard is also including the response from Darst to that same email to show there was no exceptions taken to referring to the event as a “gay pride” event.

Original email:

Here was Darst’s full response:

Author: Jacob Hall

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