Southington High Diversity Lesson Infuriates Many At BOE Meeting

SOUTHINGTON, CT — One high school English teacher's attempt to educate students regarding divisive racial and gender issues has enraged some school officials and community members.

That was clear at Thursday's Southington Board of Education meeting, where Republicans hold a 6-3 edge over Democrats, as the board was forced to deal with the type of controversy seen nationally along political lines.

The issue stems from a Southington High School teacher's worksheet distributed to students on the first day of school, Sept 1.

It reportedly addressed several issues that have divided the nation along political, gender and racial lines.

Items raised included "white privilege," "indigenous peoples," "transgender" people, "institutional racism," gender pronouns, the "Latinx" term and other hot-button political issues dividing liberals and conservatives.

WFSB-Channel 3 Saturday morning posted an image of the controversial item and it appears to show how a lot of those terms' definitions and proper ways students can include those terms in their writing.

But this reportedly made some students uneasy, and one took the worksheet to a counselor to raise concerns.

Then, the situation swept through Southington social media forums, and it culminated with a fiery board of education meeting Thursday night.

No decision was made by the school board, and the matter is reportedly still being investigated.

Southington Board of Education Vice Chairman Joseph Baczewski, a Republican, said this situation represented a "teaching opportunity."

But he also voiced frustration about how it mushroomed online and outside the realm of the school board.

Baczewski said it was unfortunate the actions of one teacher appear to be clouding the work of many.

"To hear about the white privilege thing again? I'm tired of it. For this to be the talk? Out of all the crap that's going on and this is it?" said Baczewski. "It's frustrating as hell."

Members of the public also spoke and, while some expressed understanding at the lesson's purpose, others simply expressed pure outrage.

Southington resident Jenny Cinquemani's daughter was the student who brought the matter to a high school counselor.

She said her family is a Puerto Rican family and several relatives are of varying degrees of color.

And, while she said the teacher's lesson wasn't aimed at causing harm, Cinquemani said its "unintended consequence" was more racial and gender division.

"To be honest, I'm not even angry," Cinquemani said. "I am sure that the teacher who put this together did not mean to be hurtful. But it is divisive."

She said the way the teacher listed all the marginalized populations caused more harm than good and, actually, pits those populations against each other.

"That shuts down the conversations about race and disparity," Cinquemani said.

Other speakers had more angry responses.

SHS student Ella Perillo said people of all racial and gender lines need to be treated equally, saying she felt offended all white people appeared to be singled out for racial injustices.

"If my friend is a person of color, I will treat them the same way as everyone is treated, and I expect the same thing in return," Perillo said. "This is what will cause a divide. There is no white privilege."

Resident Michael Kryzanski said the three-page worksheet has nothing to do with what should be taught in that particular class.

"I'm paying taxes so my kids can learn how to read, write and communicate properly. I'm not paying taxes for them to learn stuff in this document," he said.

Kryzanski then went point by point, criticizing various elements of the lesson in dispute.

"Social justice? Why is it even in this document? What does it even mean, aside from it being a term politicians use to buy votes," he said.

"Pretty much every term I'm reading in this document disgusts me," Kryzanski said. "This is critical race theory, which is not supposed to be taught in Southington Public Schools."

Local resident Pat Tavalozzi went so far as to suggest classroom monitors be used to make sure teachers don't impart the types of issues raised in the worksheet to their students.

She called this particular teacher a "rogue teacher."

Tavalozzi said this is an example of "young rogue teachers coming from indoctrinated colleges who want to indoctrinate our children with their philosophies and political views."

Saying many conspiracy theories are true, Tavolozzi called for greater controls of teachers.

"We need to police the teachers bringing these ideologies that are just completely off the wall," she said.

To watch the full Sept. 8 Southington Board of Education meeting, click on this link.

To see a copy of the worksheet in question courtesy of WFSB-Channel 3, click on this link.