Parents in a New York school district are concerned their children are secretly being taught controversial topics after a senior educator admitted to encouraging teachers to "covertly" develop curriculums based in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
Public school education on Long Island came under scrutiny when an undercover video of David Casamento, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at East Meadow Schools (EMS), was released by Project Veritas earlier this month.
Here's the thing with DEI work -- if you push too hard doing the work and you get this pushback, it will be decades before you can do the work again. So, it needs to be incremental," Casamento can be heard telling Project Veritas. "Every district [in Nassau County] is doing it [DEI] covertly."
As Crisis in the Classroom (CITC) previously reported, Casamento has since been "administratively reassigned" while EMS investigates his remarks. However, concerns still exist in a nearby district.
Parents in the East Williston School District (EWSD) fear their own children's curriculum has been "covertly" shaped, as they say that not only is Casamento a former EWSD employee, but the district attended EdCampLi this year.
My child is in kindergarten. His mind is a sponge. I need to know that I can trust my child in your classrooms," one mother said during this month's EWSD school board meeting. "As his parent, it's up to me to decide when it's appropriate for him to discuss these real-world personal issues. If a covert agenda is being taught without my consent, then you are infringing on my parental rights."
Parents alleged during the meeting that while other Nassau County school districts have condemned Casamento's remarks, EWSD has yet to do the same. They claim EWSD leadership sent out an email voicing its support for the "strength and inclusivity" of the district's DEI curriculum.
The fact that you have not yet opened an investigation and jumped to a conclusion that there was no foul play concerns me," the same mother added. "The fact that you have publicly jumped to that conclusion that it's all good here, there's nothing to see shows me that you're grossly incompetent. It shows me that you do not have the best interests of our children at your heart."
While calling the district's response thus far "intentionally vague," parents stressed that the EWSD community cannot "move forward" without a proper investigation being conducted. One father said the issue is less about the specific topics EWSD may be covering and more about a need for "transparency."
I think it's now the board and district's job to prove to us that there is no covert curriculum," he said. "I don't care if it's nuclear physics. You don't get to have a covert subject because a covert subject implies a secret, and a secret does not get to be had between an adult that works for a public school district and my child."
EWSD school board president Mark Kamberg told parents that while the district attempts to communicate everything that occurs in its classrooms, it "doesn't mean that every minute of what goes on is shared."
We are a district of parent choice," Kamberg said. "We don't push, we don't demand, we don't inflect anything on our children from the point that 'you have to do this.' Parents have the right to opt out."
"In our classrooms, teachers use the New York State Learning Standards to plan and deliver instruction, which do not include gender identity, discussions of hormone blockers, or surgical procedures regarding gender transitioning," a spokesperson for EWSD told CITC. "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is a policy of the New York State Education Department and has always been infused throughout our district’s mission and vision. The goal is to treat everyone with respect. We strive to create an environment that is welcoming, safe and affirming for ALL of our students. Although we respect our staff’s individual viewpoints and perspectives, those views do not and should not guide the teaching and learning in our classrooms."
EWSD also directed CITC to its mission statement, which says the district seeks to "encourage respect for individual human worth and acceptance of difference, an open and curious mind armed with the ability to think critically and to consider ideas in the light of values, and a responsible pursuit of personal excellence and knowledge."