In Essex, Springfield, concerned citizens assemble
by Guy Page
Citizen gatherings to oppose Critical Race Theory (CRT) and its public school proponents will take place this evening on opposite sides of the state.
VT Liberty Network will hold a public meeting at 5-6 pm in Commons Park in Springfield. The gathering is billed as an “educational meeting for concerned parents.” VT Liberty Network founder John Klar has been in the forefront of critics of Marxist-based CRT and Vermont school’s ‘equity and diversity’ training on which it is based.
Klar said Springfield school superintendent is leading the charge to implement CRT-based training, despite its negative effects on students.
“Children are being indoctrinated to hate their own parents,” Klar said in a recent VT Liberty video. “It’s already happening, and [UVM Professor] Aaron Kindswater is showing how horribly damaging this is to children. But they’re going to do it anyway. Who would ever trust their children with someone like Zach Mclaughlin in charge? ‘Let’s have a discussion about race,’ that’s what they say… Vermont is a wonderful place. And it’s the last place in the world to be called white supremacist, just cause it’s white.”
The meeting precedes by four days a September 25, Springfield Town Library speaking event by black poet Rajnii Eddins, who has been criticized by Klar for poetry that he says is actually hate-filled and divisive:
“The next time you wear a Native American costume
You will be scalped and hung
By the flag you hold so dear
The next time you wear black face
Tap-dancing in layers of burnt cork and grease
To mock our monstrous plight
It will become permanent
And none
Of your lily white loved ones
Will recognize you
You will be burned at the stake
Like only a true n—
Or a fa— could be….”
BLM flag, Essex School Board chair residency in question tonight
The Essex-Westford School District board meeting tonight, Tuesday at 6.30 pm in the Essex High School cafeteria will determine if the Black Lives Matters flag remains raised, according to a notice from citizen activists.
“We are likely to hear discussion on Chairwoman Kim Gleason’s potential ineligibility to remain on the board,” the notice states. In a Sept. 15 letter to other school board members, School Board Chair Gleason – a strong proponent of CRT-based education – admitted she has sold her Essex home, and that “we have had a second property in Grand Isle for 13 years.” Land records show she and her husband own “a 5800 sq. ft. lake front estate on 2.2 acres in Grand Isle, with an estimated Zillow value of $1,367,400,” citizen activists say.
Yet in the same letter, Gleason does not commit to resigning, and instead cites state law saying that “‘resident’ shall mean a person who is domiciled in the town as evidenced by an intent to maintain a principal dwelling place in the town indefinitely and to return there if temporarily absent, coupled with an act or acts consistent with that intent.”
Gleason’s interpretation of the law shows that even though she lives elsewhere, her possible intent to return to Essex means she needn’t resign. “I understand that the sections of the law cited below are relevant in this case, and that the matter is one of intent,” Gleason said. “The timing for such a transition is not stipulated in the law. However, should my situation change, I will inform the board, and I will step down.”
Gleason was appointed to the State Board of Education in April, 2019. Before being named to the EW School Board, she had served on the Essex Town School Board since April of 2007. In April, 2019 she has also served on the Board of the Vermont School Boards Association (VSBA) for the last six years. She was also appointed by Governor Scott to serve on the Vermont Municipal Employee Retirement System (VMERS) Board of Trustees and from there was appointed to the Vermont Pension Investment Committee (VPIC).