AMERICUS, Kan. – A Kansas school district has banned a 13-year-old girl from riding the bus after saying she’s gay in front of other students.
Izzy Dieker is an eighth-grader at Americus School in the North Lyon County District.
Every day Dieker rides the bus to school for 30 minutes from her small town. One day, in particular, has put her at the center of controversy and a cry for change from some teachers who decided to remain unnamed, all for saying “I’m a lesbian.”
The bus driver heard her say this and wrote her up for inappropriate language.
“Once I got home my dad told me he got a call from the school that I was kicked off for saying ‘I’m a lesbian’,” Dieker says.
Her parents were told that she also did not listen to the bus driver’s orders.
The district superintendent said he can’t discuss the details of the case.
The girl’s mother, Tasha Cooper, said she has struggled to get a response from the administration.
“She’s 13 years old and these are adults acting like this towards her,” Cooper says. “We’ve had talks about other students calling her names and I expect that because they’re repeating what their parents say. But for the staff, the people that I trust her with, I was angry.”