A father who tore a poster promoting the Smithton Middle School Gay-Straight Alliance club from a wall at the school has been warned that kind of behavior isn’t acceptable in Columbia Public Schools, district spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said Tuesday.

Ken Allen brought the poster to the Monday night meeting of the Board of Education and displayed it while his daughter, seventh-grader Summer Allen said the messages written on the sign, which include words like “transgender” and “pansexual,” clash with the family’s Christian faith and should not be allowed in public schools.

“I personally believe that we are too young to have an influence such as this on us, and especially too young to be deciding that we want to change our gender,” Allen said.

Allen ripped the poster from the school wall after seeing it while attending a parent-teacher conference, he said.

“We did call our safety and security” personnel but Allen was not arrested for theft, Baumstark said. “We have had several meetings with Mr. Allen both at the building level and district level. His voice has been heard regarding the presence of the GSA sign. From the district’s perspective, we feel like the district has listened and that he has had an opportunity to express himself.”

While the district has listened to the family’s concerns, it does not want another episode like the poster incident, Baumstark said.

“You have to be respectful, you have to follow our policies while you are in our building,” she said.

After his daughter finished speaking, Allen addressed the board. Since many of the words written on the poster contained the words “sex” and “sexual,” he said terms like “intersex” and “asexual” are sexual in nature.

Tracy Turnbow, Summer’s mother, spoke last and condemned the district for lacking transparency. There was no warning sent to parents that the posters would be hanging in school, and thus, no way to shield her child from its message.

The family questions whether the district had an obligation to inform them that such an organization was active at the school. The district must follow a law notifying parents of the content of sexuality education curriculum but the club is not covered, Baumstark said.

The Allens are the only family that has complained about the alliance, Baumstark said.

Tribune news editor Rudi Keller contributed to this report.