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Is This Gaslighting Fair?

Are Guilford parents, residents, and teachers opposed to Critical Race Theory (CRT) being isolated, marginalized, and demonized?

The Guilford Public Schools (GPS) website links to this quote, “In schools committed to racial equity, educators who resist anti-racist measures should feel uneasy, isolated on the outskirts of their schools’ institutional cultures. I mean this literally. The educators least invested in racial equity should wonder whether they belong.”

At a Guilford Board of Education (BOE) meeting on May 9, board members and Superintendent Paul Freeman implied that a letter sent to the BOE in opposition to the district’s curriculum amounted to a disregard and lack of support for teachers. In his comments, Freeman said that residents/parents were attempting to “intentionally gum up the works by filing repeat FOI requests.” He said letters and emails critical of GPS curriculum amounted to “accusations and tactics that have been leveled and employed.” He stated they were “not a sincere attempt to engage in an open conversation” and cause “real damage to public education.”

Board member Richard Hersh described those in opposition as a “relatively small amount of people having a large negative effect.” He also characterized them as liars by saying there are “a few people in this community who either themselves are lying or are believing outsider lies.”

Is this gaslighting fair?

Jonathan Trotta

Guilford