COPENHAGEN, New York (WWNY) – A lesson on gender in the Copenhagen Central School District has one guardian questioning what is being taught and where it’s coming from.
“I was blindsided, and I think my grandson was, too,” Tammy Allen said.
A few weeks ago, Allen was helping her grandson, a third grader at Copenhagen Central, with homework at their Cobb Road home.
They got to a worksheet from his Project SELF class, a school counseling program that helps students understand things like empathy and emotion management.
The topic of gender came up and that’s when she learned of a conversation he had at school earlier that day.
“One of which was gender, which included male, female and neither,” Allen said. “At that point, the kids looked at each other like they didn’t understand.”
In response, school superintendent Scott Connell acted swiftly, sending a message to all third grade parents addressing what had happened.
In the message, he wrote quote “The elementary counselor talked to the students about identity and the things that make you the same or different from others. While addressing the students, he said something that I felt was inappropriate “
Allen says she feels the school handled the situation correctly, but now she questions the type of material sent to school districts by the state.
A representative from the the State Education Department tells 7 News that its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative is not a one-size-fits-all model. It recognizes the diversity inherent in districts, schools, and communities across New York.
And to be clear, the initiative is not a mandate nor a state curriculum.
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