Letter: New Chariho Faculty Committee members bringing their politics | Letters to Editor

Chariho Faculty Committee Members should put the tutorial welfare of the scholars first, keep away from battle of curiosity, and render selections based mostly on details, not the influences of particular curiosity teams.

The Dec. 13 assembly was the primary with 5 new members, three of them signers of the Mother and father United RI pledge, obliging them “to oppose all efforts to show our Ok-12 college students any divisive race-based or gender-based concept.”

The primary Public Discussion board speaker questioned how far the pledge-makers would go in opposition to educating the historical past of slavery and racism, adopted by two pledge-signing Richmond city councilors.

Michael Colasante reprised his white male grievance presentation from the July 13, 2021, Faculty Committee assembly. Looks like 40 years in the past, his black suitemate in faculty didn’t wish to eat or play with him. Throughout this season’s telling, he known as out one council member whom he had claimed had given him “the cloud eyes” throughout his 2021 efficiency. She mentioned she didn’t know what he was speaking about, and I doubt anybody else did both.

Then Colasante laid out the one reality about black historical past anybody must know — blacks offered blacks into slavery, white individuals introduced them right here, and 350,000 union troopers misplaced their lives to free the slaves.

That mentioned, he challenged speaker primary to a verbal duel.

Enterprise included the extension of the memorandum of understanding with the Sandy Hook Promise Basis, which supplies, freed from cost, an nameless disaster tip line for college students. On the eve of the tenth anniversary of the Sandy Hook college capturing, three of the brand new committee members voted to shoot it down.

Larry Phelps, who runs a gun store, mentioned this system is “a backdoor to politicize the college system” and complained in regards to the group’s assertion that “it’s primarily white males are those doing all of the shootings.” He introduced HIS politics, HIS monetary pursuits, HIS conflicts of curiosity into the college system. His requested about their funding and variety of workers — not a one in regards to the impact of this system on the scholars.

Polly Hopkins, who championed the defeats of this yr’s Chariho budgets, desires to shift the price to the taxpayers. Claiming that she didn’t wish to “burden him with extra work,” she would quite the studies undergo Richmond Police Chief Johnson’s workplace, not Sandy Hook. So who precisely would bear the price of this program — all Chariho taxpayers, or simply Richmond’s?

Patricia Pouliot objected as a result of “the group is energetic in lobbying anti-gun laws,” refusing to discern the distinction between “anti-gun” and “anti-gun violence,” Pouliot forged her political vote.

In his opening assertion in 2021, Colasante defined that important race concept is like “strolling into a really soiled restaurant; you go searching, it’s soiled, you have a look at the assistance, they’re not very effectively stored, now it’s your fault if you happen to sit down and also you eat there, and it’s your fault if you happen to return there once more.”

Welcome to the brand new Café Chariho!

Cheryl Latos

Richmond