Crocco to reach out to Carousel Players on gender identity show

WAYNE CAMPBELL

SPECIAL TO POSTMEDIA NEWS

John Crocco hopes to meet with the Carousel Players in a few days or next week in regards to its gender identity production which schools recently backed out of attending.

“It depends on the schedules of those who would be at the meeting,” said the Niagara Catholic District School Board education director Wednesday morning.

It would be a conversation about what happened that led to a cancellation of the play

at four Niagara Catholic elementary schools and ensuing controversy.

Crocco said it will be a frank discussion about whether misunderstandings or misrepresentations or poor assumptions created the situation.

“It is a shame to see a partnership for 45 years come down to this,” he said. “You want to find out what happened” and how to resolve it.

Crocco said it is unfortunate such a meeting could not have been arranged last Wednesday after news of the cancellations broke. He said he tried to reach out to Carousel Players then.

Niagara Catholic meanwhile put out a news release to counter misinformation, he said.

Since then, the education director told trustees at a committee of the whole meeting Tuesday night, he has responded to calls from a long list of media outlets.

Niagara Catholic has drawn criticism over the show cancellations. It was performed at Mary Ward Catholic School in Niagara Falls.

is billed as story about gender identification.

Carousel Players went to the media and posted open letters on its website after the cancellations.

Niagara Catholic said in a statement that followed that the decision “to cancel these shows was made out of a concern that the play was not age-appropriate for a predominantly primary audience.”

It said that Niagara Catholic “is a fully inclusive school board that supports all students on their individual journeys. We will continue to do so.”

Crocco Tuesday reminded trus- tees that the board has won four awards “for having safe and accepting schools open to all genders, races, and sexual orientation.”

It was unfortunate Carousel did not provide board staff with the story line and content of the play, he said.

One piece of misinformation in the community, Crocco said, is that the board’s arts consultant was involved in designing the play. “She was not.” The Ontario family life curriculum outlining gender identification issues is not covered in Grade 1 and Grade 2, he said. Yet Carousel said the play was for ages six to 10. Crocco said it went beyond what was expected in the curriculum,.

“It would have been helpful if that information was supplied by Carousel.”

The education director said teachers and principals are the experts on what children at a certain age are ready to understand.

It is also normal for anyone presenting anything in schools to outline the content beforehand, he said. It assists teachers in preparing students for what they will hear or see, and sets up discussions afterward.