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The Anger and Rancor

I am one of the hard-working volunteers for the five Republican candidates for the Guilford Board of Education. I am a parent and a grandparent of children in the Guilford Public Schools. I am also a retired speech pathologist whose whole career was spent working with pre-school and elementary school children in both suburban and inner-city schools. What I am not is a racist, an extremist, or a radical. I could go on and on.

The list of derogatory words used to describe me and my fellow Republicans by our Democratic and Independent opponents was never-ending. Our side was confronted by letter after letter, article after article, from the left media and citizens of Guilford disparaging us. We were accosted daily by name-calling on signs and in mailings.

The issue of Critical Race Theory in the Guilford Public Schools will not go away regardless of the Board of Education election results. The debate will continue, but the hate has to stop. The anger and rancor surrounding this debate has torn Guilford apart and is destructive to our town and our children. I plead with my fellow Guilford citizens to stick to the facts, stop the name-calling, and be open to respectful discussions with neighbors whose views may differ from theirs.

Margaret Sills Franco

Guilford