(AgapePress) - An Illinois school district has banned pro-homosexual signs from its classrooms because the signs created divisiveness and disruption.

Board members from Rich Township High School District 227 have decided to remove "rainbow triangles" that designated certain classrooms as "safe-zones" for homosexual, bisexual, or transgender students. Rich Township Superintendent Dr. Brian Knutson says the presence of the symbols on school property created a disruption.

"No matter how honorable our intentions were, that particular symbol became divisive," Knutson says. "We unintentionally may have pitted some teachers against one another because if a teacher chose not to have that symbol on their door -- it was on a voluntary basis -- did that mean they weren't a safe place to go to? That wasn’t the intent, but that's how some people perceived it -- and that was part of that divisiveness."

Knutson, who supported the multicolored triangles at the beginning of the school year, says the district should have sought community input on strategies to overcome problems of bullying and harassment in schools. He says the district did not do a good enough job communicating with parents.

"Had we shared with our school community some of the issues on the kids who were being bullied and harmed, set the stage, and then talked with the community about ways to address these needs, it would have been different," he says. "But unfortunately, we kept that dialogue just within our tight school family -- the staff themselves."

Knutson says the district does not intend to put a new "diversity" symbol in classrooms, but rather will simply implement its current policies that ensure the safety of all students.

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