Log In


Reset Password
  • MENU
    State
    Saturday, May 04, 2024

    Parents protest when daughter is cast as slave in school assignment

    HAMDEN (AP) — The family of one of two Connecticut students who were cast as slaves in a class assignment called for accountability from school administrators.

    Carmen Parker, the mother of a 10-year-old biracial student, argued that while the teacher involved apologized, administrators at West Woods School have not appropriately accepted responsibility or offered remorse, the New Haven Register reported Tuesday.

    Parker and her husband, Joshua Parker, learned about the play last month, when their daughter came home with the class assignment meant to teach students about the slave trade.

    The students were going to act it out with Parker’s daughter as Enslaved African 2 and a black male student playing Enslaved African 1.

    Parker said the teacher involved in the assignment offered her apologies at a meeting Monday. But she said other district officials, including Superintendent of Schools Jody Goeler and Principal Dan Levy, had avoided responsibility in responding to the incident.

    School officials said in a statement last week that the district was continuing to work to institute culturally responsive practices.

    “We acknowledge the pain that members of our school community are experiencing at this time due to this incident, and are committed to doing whatever we can to repair the hurt,” officials said in the statement.

    Mayor Curt Leng announced Monday that the Hamden Equity & Inclusivity Task Force had been formed in the wake of the incident.

    Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.