UPDATED: GOP Campaign Manager Under Fire For 'Racist' Comment

GUILFORD, CT — A controversial and "racist" comment made by Guilford's Republican party campaign manager for a slate of GOP Board of Education candidates is being reported nationally after it was exposed on social media, and by members of the Democrat and Independent parties, in Guilford.

While on an online UConn forum on Critical Race Theory, Mary Beeman added this comment in the Zoom chat: "Helping kids of color to feel they belong has a negative effect on white, Christian, or conservative kids."

Beeman's comment was posted to Facebook in a community forum and elsewhere, and it was reported on by the NY Daily News, the Daily Beast and the National Review, among others.

In an email to Patch, Protect Guilford Schools is calling on the Republican Board of Education candidates for "immediate clarification: do they share Beeman's views? The PGS slate, made up of two Democrats and three Independents, is also calling on Beeman to end any affiliation with the Guilford Republican Town Committee."

In a Friday afternoon email to Patch, Beeman said, in part, that her comment was "clumsy."

"I am truly sorry to have typed a sentence that takes attention from our five outstanding candidates," she wrote. Her seven-paragraph emailed "response" which claims Guilford schools are teaching CRT, which they are not, noted that she hopes "people can see past a regrettable and clumsy comment typed in haste and appreciate the sincere concern that drives my involvement."

And, in an earlier Facebook post she said, "The statement I made was poorly worded and shown out of context."

But others disagree.

“There’s no room for interpretation,” said Democratic BOE incumbent Moira Rader. “In her comment, Ms. Beeman seeks to lump kids into two groups, white and non-white. She has called on our public schools to abandon efforts towards diversity, equity and inclusion. Our Board has devoted much time and energy towards successfully prioritizing the social and emotional wellbeing of every student. Such racist outlooks would dismantle this important progress.”

Independent Protect Guilford Schools candidate Noel Petra called Beeman’s "reprehensible" comment "another example of the extremism of this 'new breed' of Guilford Republicans."

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct source of the last quoted section of the story. Mea culpa and many apologies to both candidates.