LI teach called her 5th grade 'sexist'
A former student of a Long Island teacher accused of forcing a fifth-grade girl to go by male pronouns has claimed she once called his entire class “sexist little children” because they were only playing with classmates of the same gender.
The unnamed student alleged during a contentious school board meeting Monday night that the teacher, Debra Rosenquist, made the remark when he was in her fifth-grade class at Terryville Road Elementary School in Port Jefferson Station.
“One time, I think there were boys in the class and girls in the class and they were hanging out with each other,” the student said as he addressed the Comsewogue School District board.
“She yelled at the whole class that we were all little sexist children,” he continued.
“I was offended personally because my best friend in the class was a girl. It was like ‘Why would she do that to me, I was just a child.’ That affected me and made me very upset.”
The Comsewogue School District didn’t respond to The Post’s request for comment Wednesday.
The student, who didn’t elaborate on when the alleged remarks were made, was among more than a dozen speakers — including parents and local residents — to address the school board meeting in the wake of the troubling lawsuit being filed.
The parents of a 9-year-old girl are suing Rosenquist and the Comsewogue School District over allegations that the teacher “forced” the child to go by a male name and pronouns, which confused her so much that she had suicidal thoughts.
During the board meeting, one speaker drew applause after he demanded that district superintendent Jennifer Quinn “step down” when she couldn’t confirm whether Rosenquist was still interacting with students.
Quinn had said she wasn’t able to respond to questions about specific staff members and repeatedly noted throughout the meeting that even though there was a lawsuit, it didn’t mean the accusations were true. She added that the district, which investigated the incident a year ago when the parents first aired concerns, would only be responding to the allegations through the court system given the pending litigation.
“The district will not and cannot respond to the unproven allegations made in those reports — we will not litigate this matter in the press,” Quinn said at the beginning of the meeting.
“What the district will do is vigorously defend itself and allow the judicial process to unfold as is appropriate.”