Sarah Inama, the West Ada middle school teacher at the heart of a controversy over inclusive classroom posters, resigned earlier this month and will step down after the school year ends.

The Lewis and Clark Middle School teacher announced her resignation in a May 9 email to school and district administrators, as the Idaho Statesman first reported. 

“I cannot align myself nor be complicit with the exclusionary views and decisions of the administration,” Inama wrote in the email, which she shared with EdNews. “It is extremely disturbing and embarrassing to see a district prioritize appeasing individuals with racist perspectives over celebrating the diversity and beauty of all our students.”

Niki Scheppers, West Ada’s chief of staff, said the “district does not comment on individual personnel matters, as they are protected by law.”

In her email, Inama also expressed frustration with “the inconsistent and patronizing conversations” with district personnel, as well as what she said were “untruthful” and “alarmingly unprofessional” comments made about her by district personnel on podcasts and via correspondence. 

Trustee Dave Binetti appeared on The Ranch Podcast in March, and said he was “so disappointed” that Inama had gone to the media instead of working with the district internally to resolve the issue, as EdNews previously reported. “I really wish that a different choice had been made there.”

The controversy is “taking away from the things that we’re supposed to be focused on, which is educating our kids,” Binetti said.

Public records requested by EdNews also revealed a news release draft that criticized Inama: “Unfortunately, in this case the grievance process was bypassed and instead the media were contacted — and things went quickly downhill.”

Inama requested a letter of recommendation from her principal, Monty Hyde, on March 3 and he agreed to write one, the records showed. At the time, Inama said she was working on an application for a teaching position in the Boise School District.  

In a Thursday text message to EdNews, Inama said she was “blindsided and appalled” by the reasoning of the administration and “never expected to have a situation like this occur.”

“But the decision to stand up against the (school’s) bigoted expectations was not hard for me to make,” she wrote. “We would never let our students say hurtful and discriminatory things to each other and I won’t allow adults to either.”