By JEFF MORRIS
Controversy over the appropriateness of a book about a transgender child continued for a second meeting of the Katonah-Lewisboro Board of Education.
At the board’s Oct. 24 session, a follow-up to remarks made during the public comment period from the Oct. 10 meeting, many more speakers voiced opinions about the appropriateness of a book being read to kindergarteners. Board members also expressed their own reactions to the controversy.
There were 20 speakers at the latest meeting, most of whom responded to and disagreed with the sentiments of the five speakers at the Oct. 10 meeting regarding the book, “When Aidan Became a Brother,” by Kyle Lukoff, and the intent of a Meadow Pond kindergarten teacher to read it to her class.
The objections raised at that time had to do with the title character being a transgender child.
Speakers expressed the opinion that the book, though deemed suitable by educators for grades pre-K to 5, was not really appropriate for children that young. They wanted to be notified ahead of time when books selected for the district’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiative were to be used in class, and to be provided with a list of such materials. They also wanted to be given the opportunity to have their children opt out of those lessons.
The leadoff speaker at the Oct. 24 session was Cade Schwerk, who described himself as “a trans man who went to Katonah Elementary School” and is now a senior at John Jay High School.
“I didn’t decide to be trans,” Schwerk said. “I certainly didn’t become trans because of a book I read in school. ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ didn’t turn me into a caterpillar and ‘Anne of Green Gables’ didn’t turn me into an orphan.”
Schwerk said he saw the issue being the fear that parents have of difference and divergence, not the confusion of the children.
“I’d like you all to look inside yourself and think, what about me makes you so fearful? What about my existence threatens you? And why is your worst nightmare your children turning out like me?” Schwerk spoke of fear-mongering around the term “transgender” having real world consequences, with suicide rates among transgender youth increasing.
“You want to save children? Well, I’m a child too. And you’re not saving me by hiding who I am,” concluded Schwerk, who was met with loud and sustained applause.
Rachel Fusco, who said she had two children in elementary school and is also a child therapist and professor, said she could empathize with parents who are uncomfortable with having conversations about gender diversity in school. But, she said, “I want to know that my kids are attending a school district where administrators are educating families, and not families regulating educators.”
She confirmed higher rates of suicide ideation among queer and gender expansive youth, while there are lower rates in affirming communities, and referenced surveys showing discussions about opting out of books featuring gender diversity “makes queer youth in our community feel unsafe.” She added, “Books don’t confuse kids; rigid beliefs confuse kids.”
David Hartman, also a parent of two elementary school students, said he wanted to applaud teachers who include more diverse books in their curriculum and libraries. As a teacher himself, he commented, “I know what it means to have the backing of a school board and administration, and I worry about what happens when that backing disappears — especially when parents start to demand that they can review the curriculum that teachers choose.” He said having the conversation with a teacher as a guide in the room leads to better understanding.
“When kids read books with different characters, they don’t lose sight of who they are as a person,” Hartman said.
Suzy Genzler read excerpts from a letter a group of 106 parents and community members signed and sent to the board, expressing their “strong support for the district’s diverse and inclusive elementary curriculum that reflects the LGBTQ+ community.”
Joe Tompko, another parent of two district students, said he was present at the last meeting, and regretted not having stood up to make a comment then. “There was no unilateral applause for the speakers that night,” he said. “I don’t believe they speak for the majority of parents in our community.”
Tompko said he believed teaching children that “fostering understanding and inclusion of others is not a moral quandary to opt out of; it’s necessary to raise us all up.”
While most of the remaining speakers also expressed strong support for the district’s DEI efforts and the materials chosen by teachers, five others, including three who had spoken at the prior meeting, disagreed. They did not directly address what the other speakers said, rather they reacted to another dimension that had been added to the argument when Liz Gereghty, a former trustee who left the KLSD board last year to launch a later-abandoned congressional campaign, made social media posts on Oct. 21.
Gereghty encouraged people to watch the video of the previous meeting, and said she had been “a broken record on the board warning of the dangers of censorship, book bans and Moms for Liberty and a lot of people told me it won›t happen here.” She went on to say, “This is how it begins. People seem to be making reasonable requests, but then start talking about religious freedom and morality,” concluding, “This is how book bans start. They don›t just want to control what their child can and cannot read, they are trying to make that decision for all of our children.”
Those comments started an avalanche of indignant responses online, some of which were repeated by speakers at this meeting, insisting that nobody had ever suggested banning books. These parents protested that all they were asking for was the right to opt their own children out of discussing topics with which they were not comfortable; wanted the district to be transparent about what materials were being used; and regarded Gereghty’s remarks as off base and incendiary. The speakers said they had been subjected to bullying in online forums for expressing their views.
After public comment ended, five of the six board members who were present shared their reactions to the public comments from the last meeting.
Trustees Barbara Williams, Jon Poffenberger and Lorraine Gallagher all expressed support for the district’s DEI initiatives and faculty. Marjorie Schiff remarked that the state had encouraged districts to adopt DEI policies, and wanted to remind the community that the district had adopted its DEI initiative in 2022 and nothing had really changed in the past year to 18 months. She said there seemed to be a fear among some in the community that something was changing in the district, but that fear was unfounded.
“We can work to ensure everybody feels heard,” she said. “We don’t want to devolve into parent against parent.”
Board President Julia Hadlock, reflecting on what was said at that night’s meeting, said she doesn’t go on social media, so doesn’t know what is happening there.
“I think it’s really important to remember that talking to people in person and listening is going to always be much richer and more valuable than exchanges in social media world,” she said. “So I’m hoping our parents can help model that for our students and especially our younger students who maybe are just initially engaging in social media, that it’s just not a place to have constructive conversations or dialogue.”