School Officials Explain Slave Play Furor To Fifth-Graders

Two days after a teacher at West Woods Elementary School in Hamden was placed on leave for planning to have kids act out slaves, district administrators and parents met with the class to explain why the play was a mistake.

Meanwhile, community members stood outside demanding the district take accountability for the culture that often neglects black and brown students.

The issue arose last week when a teacher at the school planned to introduce her fifth-grade students to slavery by having them act out a read-aloud play called ​“A Triangle of Trade.”

One biracial girl was cast as Enslaved African 2, while an African American boy was cast as Enslaved African 1. One scene involved a slave driver cracking a whip at them as they lay down in a slave ship. Another showed an African king named ​“King Babu” willingly selling his people into slavery in exchange for rum, guns, and horses.

But it’s not about the play anymore, said Carmen Parker, whose daughter was cast as Enslaved African 2, and it’s not about the teacher. She said it’s about holding the district accountable for the culture that allowed this to happen, and that allowed her to go days before anyone in the district apologized and acknowledged that the play never should have been given to students.

Parker showed up to West Woods Thursday morning around 8:15 a.m. She had planned to meet with Superintendent Jody Goeler, Assistant Superintendent Chris Melillo, and other administrators in the school, before they addressed the whole fifth grade to explain to them why the play was wrong and why the teacher had been placed on leave.

After Parker found out that her daughter’s teacher had been placed on paid leave, she demanded that the district bring her back. She said the district was just scapegoating the teacher, rather than owning up to a deeper problem with embedded racism in the district. Goeler said that the personnel investigation into the teacher will wrap up by the end of the day on Friday.

“This is no longer about the play. We stopped talking about the play days ago. They just haven’t caught on,” said Parker after emerging from the school around 11 a.m. to an entourage of four news outlets and shivering supporters.

“After the teacher was contacted by one of her students’ parents, she understood that the play was an inappropriate instructional tool for teaching about such an important and sensitive topic, and decided not to have students read it,” the district wrote in a statement posted to its website at around 4:30 Thursday afternoon.

“The district and school administration expressed their deep regret that this non-HPS approved play was introduced to students. Ensuring that our students understand and appreciate the horrors associated with the enslavement of African-Americans in this country and around the world is a significant albeit critical responsibility we have as educators. We are committed to working with local and national scholars to determine the best way for us to have our students learn about and understand not just the enslavement of African-Americans, but to appreciate and become aware of the entirety of the African-American experience.”

Wednesday evening, Parker spoke with Goeler. They also agreed that they would meet the next morning at the school to ​“reeducate” the class.

About 12 hours later, a small crowd of community members stood outside the school on the West Todd Street sidewalk to support Parker and her husband while they spoke with administrators inside.

First, Parker met with Goeler, Assistant Superintendent Chris Melillo, Director of Social Studies Jennifer Vienneau, BOE Member Roxana Walker-Canton, Walker-Canton’s husband David Canton. Then, Goeler, Melillo, Vienneau, and Walker-Canton spoke to the fifth grade. According to Parker, they told them why the play was wrong, why the school should have responded faster, reiterated the school’s bullying policy. Press was not allowed to enter the building.

“10-Year-Old Bears The Burden”

Parker’s husband Josh Parker said that Wednesday afternoon, his daughter came home from school in tears. He said he asked her how her day was, and she replied: ​“You got [the teacher] fired and you’re suing her.”

Apparently, other students, not fully understanding the situation, had bullied her, accusing her of getting their teacher fired.

Josh Parker said that he had tried to shield her from the press coverage up to that point. But at that point, he said, he had to fully explain the situation and show her all of the news reports (which have appeared in the Washington Post and the BBC, as well as in local outlets). ​“As a parent, that’s a hard conversation,” he said.

“By their lethargy and refusal to own this and reeducate their children, they were letting our 10-year-old bear the burden of their adult inadequacy,” said Carmen Parker.

She said that when she was in the meeting, she told Goeler and other administrators that her main concern is the lack of accountability she feels the district has shown. She said Principal Dan Levy did not apologize or acknowledge the grievous nature of the play. The district removed the teacher from the classroom without explaining to the students why they were doing so and why the play was wrong. She said that the school has not communicated with parents, even those with children in the class, about the incident, which was first reported Tuesday. 

“Radio silence. Nada,” she said. She said she had demanded some kind of school-wide communication by the end of the day. ​“You’re in the media, and it looks better if you take grown-up responsibility for yourself.”

A call went out to West Woods parents at around 4:15 p.m. on Thursday informing them that a statement would be posted to the West Woods website around 5:30.

In addition to demanding that the teacher be reinstated and that the district explain the situation to students, she also made a number of other specific demands to help the district hold itself accountable. She has called for a better system for dealing with complaints in real time, similar to the reporting system that hospitals use. She has called for the district to bring in members of African American, Latinx, and other minority communities to help with the creation of curricula. She has also called for Levy’s removal.

She said she had seen Levy a few times Thursday morning, but that she had had trouble talking to him. ​“I could not look the man who committed willful ignorance of children at the expense of my child in the face very successfully,” she said.

“Late last week district administration was made aware of an incident where a fifth grade teacher used non-Hamden Public Schools’ approved instructional resources that had students portraying characters from history, including slaves” Levy wrote in a statement on the West Woods website at around 5 p.m. Thursday. ​“The teacher’s introduction of this play about slavery raised serious concerns that are currently being investigated by the district’s Human Resources department and appropriate legal counsel.”

When asked whether the district would be investigating Levy’s handling of the situation, Goeler responded that ​“we’re investigat[ing] the matter, which includes the conduct of any and all Hamden school employees.”

Parker said that on Thursday, her main priority was making sure the school addressed its students so her daughter would no longer be bullied. Next will come a longer-term push to combat the culture that allowed the play to be given to students in the first place.

“I think they’ll let us tell them what they need,” she said, whether through decency or pressure.

According to the district’s statement, it is working with a number of groups to implement anti-bias trainings for staff and create a culturally inclusive curriculum, including the Anti-Defamation League’s No Place for Hate program and SCSU’s Change From Within program and the Student Ambassadors program at Hamden High School.

Cops On Guard

When Parker and other parents and community members arrived at the school, Hamden police officers were in the parking lot. She and multiple other sources said that five were present at first. When the Independent arrived, two were present, though a third stopped by at one point. She said they did not let her park in the lot, so she drove over to an adjacent street and parked on the side of the road, as did the people who had shown up to support her.

Hamden Police Chief John Cappiello said that he and Goeler had spoken and had agreed that police should be present. He said he had decided two would be an appropriate number, and that the presence of more was a result of ​“miscommunication.”

Goeler said that he had requested ​“an officer or two” because ​“an unknown amount of people were going to descend upon school grounds during school hours,” and he wanted to ensure that ​“the perimeter of the school remained safe.”

Parker said that when she and her husband went to the door, the secretaries on duty did not let them in, though they had arranged to meet with Goeler. She said they would open the door a crack so that late schoolchildren could enter, and then shut it ​“like there was a hurricane.” Finally, Levy came and let them in, she said.

Outside, on the sidewalk along West Todd Street, a small group of community members huddled in the cold and waited. Former Legislative Councilwoman and Mayoral Candidate Lauren Garrett and her husband Dan stood with Southern Connecticut State University Professor Cassi Meyerhoffer, former Working Parties Family Council Candidates Laurie Sweet and Rhonda Caldwell, Garrett’s former Campaign Manager Sean Grace, and Organizer Kerry Ellington.

Quinnipiac Professor Dwayne Boucaud also showed up for a short time. He lives in Cheshire, but said he wanted to support Parker. ​“I think what’s happening here is a model,” he said, referring to the protest and conversations that have happened as a result of the play.

Ellington said that the district needs to work on being actively anti-racist. She pointed out that the state has many requirements for teachers that ensure they are competent in the classroom, but that there is no assessment to judge whether a teacher knows how to discuss race and work with students of color.

The group stood in the cold for about an hour and a half until first David Canton and Roxana Walker-Canton and then the Parkers emerged from the school. Canton, who teaches history at Connecticut College, said he is meeting with Vienneau on Friday to discuss the curriculum.

While the group stood on the sidewalk, cars streamed past. Some drivers held up phones to photograph the group. Others shook their heads in apparent disapproval of the decision to gather outside of a school.

In the parking lot, two coat-clad workers carried a flag to the tall, white pole poking out a strip of grass. A police cruiser sat, parked, behind them. They clipped the flag to the ropes hanging down from the pole, and slowly hoisted the flag into the air. About a quarter of the way up, it caught the wind and unfurled, flapping faster and faster as it rose to the top under a bright blue sky.

Read the full statement from the district below.

District Statement On Non-Curricular Material Used By 5th-Grade Teacher

Last week, one of our fifth grade teachers introduced to her students a play from an older edition of Scholastic Magazine entitled, ​“A Triangle of Trade.” The play, which is not and never has been part of the district’s curriculum, was an attempt to expose students to the topic of the triangular slave trade.

After the teacher was contacted by one of her students’ parents, she understood that the play was an inappropriate instructional tool for teaching about such an important and sensitive topic, and decided not to have students read it. The district and school administration expressed their deep regret that this non-HPS approved play was introduced to students.

Ensuring that our students understand and appreciate the horrors associated with the enslavement of African-Americans in this country and around the world is a significant albeit critical responsibility we have as educators. We are committed to working with local and national scholars to determine the best way for us to have our students learn about and understand not just the enslavement of African-Americans, but to appreciate and become aware of the entirety of the African-American experience.

As we work to develop and implement best practices in culturally responsive instruction and curriculum in our schools, we will continue to take a systems approach to training our staff on implicit bias and culturally responsive practices across the district. Some of our continuing initiatives to assist us in this effort include the Anti-Defamation League’s No Place For Hate Training, Hamden High School’s Student Ambassador Program (which was developed through our collaborative work with Harvard University), and our work with SCSU’s Change From Within program.

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. We look forward to further engaging our school community as we proceed with this important work.