Parents accuse Connecticut school district of pushing 'agenda' with Pride-themed video for middle schoolers
SOUTHINGTON, Conn. (CITC) — A Connecticut school district is being accused of promoting an "agenda" after allegedly showing middle school students a video about Pride Month without parental permission.
The video was allegedly played in homerooms at John F. Kennedy (JKF) Middle School earlier this month. The six-minute-long video discusses the history of Pride Month and asks students to consider what they are "proud" of while showing footage of various Pride-themed events.
However, some parents claim they were not notified ahead of time that their children would be watching the video.
"It seems like some teachers are taking the opportunity to push any agenda they want without parents knowing or having a say," one father told the Southington Public Schools (SPS) school board Thursday.
SPS leadership has reportedly apologized to families, with Superintendent Steven Madancy saying that the "immediate assumption" that teachers were "pushing an individual agenda" is "simply not true." Crisis in the Classroom (CITC) has reached out to SPS for a copy of the apology letter parents say they received.
"Why is there all this focus on sexuality in schools today anyway?" the same father asked the SPS school board Thursday. "Don't we want students to be taking pride in what they accomplish as opposed to who they are sexually attracted to?"
The SPS father was supported by several others who said they feel discussions on gender identity and sexual orientation should occur with parents present, as opposed to in classrooms.
"I think we should be teaching our children to focus on academics," another parent said. "I don't know why we put such a big pressure on students as to who they have relationships with, especially in the middle school environment."
However, some disagreed, and argued that the purpose of the Pride Month video was being overlooked. One mother said that the video was not "teaching" JFK Middle School students "about sexuality."
"We need to support the students and the teachers and give them a great education to go out in the world," she told the SPS school board. "Reading, writing, arithmetic , not that anymore, sorry. There's a lot more to deal with in this world."
CITC reached out to SPS for comment, but did not receive a response prior to publication. This story will be updated if a response is received.