Darien ed board members push back on parents’ criticism of strategic plan

DARIEN — Board members pushed back against parental criticism of the district’s new five-year strategic plan — which would include an additional emphasis on diversity and inclusion — during a board meeting Tuesday.

Parents who spoke during public comments said they were worried the 2021-26 blueprint would lead to a decrease in highquality education. But board members Tuesday denied the point of the comments and disputed rumors that school officials would sacrifice high-quality education and remove rigorous coursework to make space for additional diversity curriculum.

“What I’m seeing in this strategic plan is actually ... what we’ve heard parents ask for for years. It’s much more differentiation, diversifying how we learn,” board member Tara Ochman said. “I feel like the concern we heard from the public tonight is the opposite of this goal.”

Parents mainly cited recent decisions from New York City officials to phase out gifted and talented programs in public schools in the city and said they were worried about the same thing happening in Darien.

“They are eliminating or diluting gifted programs, AP courses, midterm and final exams, all in (the) name of DEI curriculum,” parent Jeff Thompson said. “I hope this is not an omen for Darien. I hope we can remain focused on academic excellence and not replace academic merit with political agendas.”

The board has no plans to eliminate AP courses or exams of any kind, vice chair Debra Ritchie said Tuesday.

The five-year strategic plan aims to guide the school district into a more diverse, technologydriven world, said Christopher Tranberg, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. It was developed by more than two dozen community members, students and school officials over the past two years.

Parents also criticized a perceived lack of transparency around the strategic plan. But school officials pointed out that conversations around the plan have been happening at public board meetings for at least two years.

Earlier this month, the school board unanimously approved creating a curriculum subcommittee after parents asked for more oversight and transparency following a controversy over a class assignment.

Now, some parents are asking the board to pause the strategic plan’s implementation until they are more sure of its contents.

“The drastic curriculum revamp is a result of a select group of chosen parents who are now running for office and bringing with them radical national efforts into our schools,” said parent Melissa Zablocki. “We as parents got complacent, we will be snowballed.”

But on Tuesday, other speakers supported the plan and said it would help ensure students are prepared when they graduate and go to college.

“Diversity and equity and inclusion are not political,” said Barry Palmer, the president of the Darien Education Association. “To try to politicize DEI is damaging to our students and intentionally diminishes the quality of education this district provides.”