GUILFORD, Conn. — The hot topic surrounding the elections in Guilford is how race should be taught in the classroom, with an emphasis on Critical Race Theory (CRT.)
FOX61 caught up with Board of Education Candidate Danielle Scarpellino. She’s a Republican, who said while she agrees that teaching Race and Culture is vital, it must be done properly.
“We all agree it's important. We all agree children should have an education, should know the good, the bad, and the ugly. No one is denying that.”
However, she’s against teaching CRT in K-12 schools.
“If it's taught incorrectly, it can absolutely cause secondhand trauma," Scrapellino explained. “And there's facts, and there's proof, and there's actual people that discussed it on the forum.”
Bill Bloss, Democrat and Former Board of Education Chair, said the only thing about the CRT hot topic is that it isn’t in the classrooms.
“It’s a graduate-level or law school level course that is an extremely specialized class, course, and is not being taught in Guilford,” said Bloss.
Scarpellino disagreed with Bloss and said CRT is being taught but disguised under a different name.
“Our teachers are trained in it,” said Scrpellino. “It's not called Critical Race Theory. It's called Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Pedagogy. However, that is a way of teaching every subject through the lens of racism.”
Bloss said Critical Race Theory isn’t even on the ballot and believes CRT is a fear tactic by the Republican Board of Education party.
“On the ballot is simply whether we're going to continue the progress that we've made in Guilford toward teaching diversity and equity and inclusion. It is not about Critical Race Theory,” said Bloss.
On the Nov. 2 ballot, voters will not see a CRT category, but three empty seats for the Board of Education.
“Because of minority representation rules...only two Democrats can be elected,” explained Bloss. “So the other four can be anything other than Democrats. So there's already one Republican on the board now who's not up for reelection.”
Click here for a view of the Gilford Sample Ballot.
Raquel Harrington is the race and culture reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at rharrington@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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