To the Editor:

I was impressed by the concern and passion expressed by members of the community and members of the Board of Education itself at last night’s (2/15) Board of Education meeting.

They were moved by the stories of trauma and the concerns about potential bullying our children experience and may experience regarding the use of masks.

Masks are a tool used to mitigate the potential spread of a deadly virus. In the near future, the use of masks will be a courtesy rather than a requirement.

I only wish I knew how to communicate the trauma and bullying experienced by the black and brown children and the LGBTQIA+ children in our schools in such a way that might invoke such passion.

While the last board made some important changes that we are hopeful will make a difference, the current board’s tendency to rephrase, dilute and dismiss the goals of those changes is concerning.

A student recently informed me that they were compelled to work on a joint project with a person that had called them a homophobic epithet.

Have you ever had to work as an equal on a project with someone who clearly regards you with contempt? I have.

It’s very anxiety-provoking. You know, traumatic.

Unlike with masks, this child has no choice about their LGBTQIA+ status.

Black and brown children experience the same interactions, having to be courteous and polite to students, teachers, and staff who will never return the favor. Every school day. Not because of an optional piece of cloth, but because of the color of their skin.

How do I inspire the Board to appreciate the immediacy of the needs of marginalized children? So that they properly fund the DEI initiative rather than lay all the responsibility on the shoulders of one man? Or to undertake a full audit of the schools’ curriculum, in spite of it being a gargantuan task?

How do I convince the Board to listen with respect, and not dismiss our concerns with worries about how equity might be incompatible with patriotism and how our pleas are “irrationally emotional”?

Parents of marginalized children see the trauma of sustained bullying in their children and have been seeing this for more than the two years of this pandemic.

Where is the passion, the compassion, for them?

Sincerely,

Linda O’Sullivan

Sandy Hook