Tag: BOE

  • To Move Forward, Reflect then Vote

    Two recent NAFC Blog articles highlighted the importance of remembering our past. In July, Carrie Grummons wrote about her family’s trip to Germany. She reflected upon how the United States deals with the ugly parts of our history in a vastly different way from how the Germans have dealt with theirs (Why Remembering Is Important…

  • Watching the Playbook Play Out

    Well, here we are again. Another late-night Board of Education meeting in Newtown with more parents in attendance and more passionate speeches about the protection of First Amendment rights, the importance of representation in literature, and the ability to handle more mature material by high school aged students. I went into this meeting incredibly jaded,…

  • Board of Education Public Participation Speech

    Many members of our community often speak during the public participation portion of the town Board of Education meetings. Below is the speech written by Danielle Lozer about her family’s personal experience. My main reason for speaking today is to thank Dr. Correia, in public, for his willingness to confront the racism going on at…

  • Disrupting Ignorance

    The following post was written by Konrad Miller, a member of NAFC. June 19th, 1865 (Juneteenth) is the date that the last slaves in Galveston, Texas were declared free by General Gordon Grainger. The signing of the Emancipation Proclamation was not regarded as consequential in Galveston in January of 1863. Black people were kept as…

  • Examine Your Narrative

    When Linda, a white woman from Newtown, CT, was sixteen years old she walked to the local mall and back with another teenaged girl from her neighborhood. On the way back, the young woman leaned over and said, “don’t look now, but there’s a Black man following us, and I think he wants to rape…

  • When Will You Care Enough?

    The Newtown community needs to push through silly narratives about diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts as being divisive. Let those irrational narratives motivate you to work harder for the Newtown children who have and continue to bear entirely too much burden in our community.

  • What Joe Biden and Ronald Reagan Can Teach Newtown About Hiring Teachers

    The nomination (and later confirmation) of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the highly qualified judge who will soon be this country’s first Black woman to hold a seat on the Supreme Court, happened within the context of a lot of chatter. I won’t waste anyone’s time addressing the ridiculousness of “Do you think babies are racist?”…

  • Superintendent Search in Newtown

    The residents of Newtown, Connecticut ought to be very concerned with the way the school district is conducting the hiring process for the new superintendent. First of all, just like the hiring of the past three superintendents, the current members of the board are the only ones who will be a part of the interviewing…