GOP campaign chief apologizes for ‘kids of color’ remark

GUILFORD — The campaign manager for the Republican Board of Education candidates apologized Friday for making a “clumsy” comment about “kids of color” during a University of Connecticut education forum.

Mary Beeman issued a statement Friday after drawing criticism for writing, “helping kids of color to feel they belong has a negative effect on white, Christian, or conservative kids,” in the comments section of the Zoom forum on race in education last week.

“In the course of an online chat exchange during a Zoom presentation, I made a clumsy comment, which I quickly corrected,” Beeman said. “Viewed in isolation, the single line taken from the exchange suggests a position far from my true and long-expressed beliefs, and it in no way represents who I am.”

Beeman said her comment was in response to a remark made by Guilford Public Schools’ Superintendent Paul Freeman, who was part of the event panel.

“Our superintendent of schools asserted that children of color need to belong,” Beeman said in her statement on Friday. “I say that they already do, as they should. Every child is a precious gift to our community, and I believe

our school system must be — and has been — welcoming to them all.”

Paul Chello, chair of the Guilford Republican Town Committee, declined to comment Friday about Beeman’s remarks during the education forum. Chello also declined to say whether he would ask her to resign as campaign manager.

Guilford Democratic Town Committee Chair Tara Hunt Melvin said Beeman’s statement and additional context does not change the “mean-spirited” remark. Hunt Melvin called on Beeman’s Republican school board candidates to reject what she said at the meeting.

“Given her role as the campaign manager for the Republican Board of Education candidates, Guilford parents and voters deserve to know if those candidates agree with Ms. Beeman’s sentiments that making children of color feel they belong has a negative effect on white children,” Hunt Melvin said.

“So far, the Republican town chair and the Republican BOE candidates have chosen not to comment, and their silence speaks volumes about where they stand,” she added.

Freeman declined to comment about the Board of Education campaign, but said Friday children in the district are valued.

“It is not a zero-sum game. All our students belong, and we are committed to ensuring a safe and supportive environment in which they all know that they belong, and that they matter, and that they are valued,” Freeman said. “The belonging of one child in no way takes away from the belonging of any other.”

Board of Education Chairwoman Kathleen Balestracci, a Democrat, wrote in an email on Friday that Beeman’s comment is “appalling” because it demonstrates a lack of concern for children of color. She also said it represents a damaging and false narrative.

“She underestimates our children’s abilities to engage in thoughtful consideration of others’ experiences, and underestimates Guilford Public Schools’ faculty, staff and administration to simultaneously support all our students,” Balestracci wrote in the email.

Beeman’s Republican candidates have sparked an ongoing debate on how race is taught in Guilford schools. The candidates have claimed critical race theory is being taught in the town’s schools. CRT is a controversial academic framework through which to view systems of racism and oppression in America.

However, Freeman and other officials have said the theory is not being taught in town.

In her statement on Friday, Beeman

referenced critical race theory, claiming it divides people into “oppressors and oppressed, creating divisions and resentments based solely on race.”

The Republican candidates did not respond to requests for comment. However, Beeman said the candidates support her statement, which was shared Friday on the Parents for Guilford Students Facebook page.

“I am truly sorry to have typed a sentence that takes attention from our five outstanding candidates,” Beeman wrote in the statement. “The voters of our town will make a grave decision next month, between board members who will be a rubber-stamp for critical race theory extremists, and a group of parents determined to provide our school system with true and transparent oversight, who will promote basics in education.”

Banu Ozkazanc-Pan, a parent of biracial and bi-religious students in the Guilford school system, feels Beeman should resign.

“How can you be in a position to impact school children and children in general if these are your views on minority kids? It’s not OK,” Ozkazanc-Pan said. “We’re kind of surfacing views that have probably been there for a long time that we didn’t really catch.”