‘Hear what we have to say’
Crowd turns out at school board meeting with list of complaints, from masks to critical race theory
GREENWICH — Many parents upset with the school district for a variety of reasons — including its alleged teaching of critical race theory and its enforcement of a state COVID-19 requirement that students continue to wear masks — arrived at Central Middle School on Thursday evening as police and security stood nearby ahead of a meeting of the Board of Education.
“The goal for today is, one, we want to get the language and the highly sexualized content out of the curriculum,” said Jackie Homan, a leader of a group called the Greenwich Patriots that protested on those issues at Town Hall earlier this week. “There’s no reason for unapproved items to be given to our children. It should go through the proper process. … Second, we want some transparency around the curriculum. We want the chance to opt out of things that we deem too offensive.”
Homan, a parent of students in the Greenwich Public Schools, and others then headed into the meeting, for which many had signed up to speak during public comment.
One of the first to the podium,
however, was Carol Sutton, president of the Greenwich Education Association.
Sutton, in her last meeting before stepping down as head of the teachers’ union, addressed the protesters in the room and the attacks leveled at teachers and classroom materials from many protesters.
“I leave you with one very simple idea,” Sutton said. “We can’t protect our students from ideas. We can only prepare them for ideas. And that’s what the teachers will continue to do.”
Curriculum has been a rallying point for the Greenwich Patriots, a loosely affiliated group of parents and concerned residents from Greenwich and surrounding cities and towns.
The group financed a “Truth Truck,” which has driven around Stamford and Greenwich with a rotating LED display of phrases. In the past, it warned against COVID-19 vaccines, but on Thursday as it made an appearance outside of Central, its message was “Teach how to think/Not what to think” and “Stop using profanitylaced content.”
In March, an educational cartoon video about physical and emotional abuse was shown to a remote second grade class that contained a depiction of a man with an erect penis standing near a child, an incident that Homan said concerned her.
“We just wanted people to stand up and hear what we have to say, because what I’ve found is that most of my friends, that aren’t paying close attention because they have to work, they have a job, they’ve got other things going on in their lives, they don’t have the opportunity to look at their children’s homework with a microscope,” Homan said standing in front of the school before the meeting. “I’m not asking for a protest. We have some simple things, give us some transparency, stop the filth. I think they’re pretty reasonable messages. I hope they are.”
“The ideal outcome of today would be some assurance that we’re going to stop putting everything through a racial lens in the schools and that they will select curriculum in a transparent way,” she added.
Homan was speaking about critical race theory, an academic framework for viewing race and power in relation to American history. Its alleged presence in schools has been the source of debate in the last year and has polarized people in Greenwich, as well as nationally. Superintendent of Schools Toni Jones has repeatedly denied that critical race theory is taught in Greenwich Schools.
In advance of Thursday’s meeting, Greenwich Patriots placed signs throughout Greenwich that stated, “Unmask our children, ban critical race theory, protect medical freedom.”
The state Department of Education has repeatedly encouraged residents to wear masks, which are mandated inside school buildings. The COVID-19 vaccine is not mandatory for children, according to the state, but district officials have been encouraged to share information with students about it.
Paige Windle, a 30-year Greenwich resident, said she attended the gathering, not as a parent, but as a “freedom fighter.”
Windle and others raised concerns about mask mandates and said masks obstruct their children’s breathing, are awkward, impersonal and should not be required any longer as COVID-19 death and infection rates dwindle.
“When things are mandated, when people are told they have to obstruct their breathing, ... then they should be allowed to say no and be supported for that decision,” she said.
Masks were also the reason Marija Mikolajczak said she showed up.
“I think they’ve outlived their purpose,” Mikolajczak said, adding that she wanted to ask the school board to end mask mandates.
Mikolajczak wasn’t the only person with aspirations to speak during public comments. Before the official start, more than 40 people had signed up to speak.
Citing a “potential for heightened disagreement” the district requested a police presence at the meeting. Though counterprotesters were rumored, none showed up. The gathering outside the meeting remained peaceful and moved inside as the meeting began at 7 p.m.