The Alliance for Education in Waukesha (AEW) would like to commend Dr. Underly for her letter and her involvement. At the same time, AEW would like to respond to comments made by Dr. Sebert and local legislative leaders in their answers to Dr. Underly’s letter.
Dear Superintendent Sebert and School Board members, The international hubbub arising from the bottom end of Larchmont Avenue–my spouse’s elementary alma mater–brings to mind the fable of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Made famous by Disney’s Fantasia, Goethe’s poem has plenty of interpretive layers that extend well beyond this controversy, but the image is provocative–for me at least: You created a monster with this “controversial signage” policy–and doubled down with an unnecessary (and unnecessarily cruel) “parental rights” resolution. And now, every time you try to cut the rainbow, you just end up with two rainbows. Then four. Then eight. And the next thing you know, […]
It is time for Ms. Tempel to be returned to her students and for the district to take accountability for starting this mess in the first place simply, because they wanted to keep rainbows out of a first-grade classroom.
STATEMENT ON BIAS IN WAUKESHA SCHOOLS
The School District of Waukesha (SDW) made national news for banning the song “Rainbowland.” This decision is a consequence of nearly three years of bad policy implementation by the SDW Superintendent and Board. Rainbowland is merely a symptom of an on-going pattern of bias, bullying of students, staff and parents, and failure to appropriately document and respond to incidents of discrimination and harassment.
ALL children and families deserve to be welcome, respected and represented in our school district. It’s well past time to stop trying to remove any representation of one group; in trying to do so you are harming us all.
Good afternoon, Dr. Sebert, Dr. Piacsek and SDW Board members,
First, I’d just like to say, “Happy Trans Day of Visibility!” I hope you’re all finding at least some small way to celebrate inclusion and acceptance today.
Dr. Sebert, Dr. Piacsek and Members of the Board,
Regarding the “SDW Stakeholder Communication”:
How dare you?
How dare you try to throw the teachers and staff of this district under the bus for the way YOU are choosing to implement policy?
Mr. Sebert –
Stop gaslighting the “stakeholders” and hiding behind a policy that is being implemented in a discriminatory manner at YOUR direction.
Please respect our intellectual freedoms and allow our students freer access to challenging ideas. Please maintain the current consideration process.
What’s most concerning is the ease for someone to censor material based on bigoted beliefs under the guise of protecting children, thus removing material geared toward marginalized students without the public being the wiser. A parent may censor their own child, but that’s where the line needs to be drawn. No one should limit anyone else’s kids simply because they disagree with the content.