Forest Hills students, parents, staff protest after 'Diversity Day' is postponed again
by Cassy Arsenault, WKRC originally posted Tuesday, May 3rd 2022
CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Furious parents and students stood their ground outside the Forest Hills School District central office Monday night.
They are calling for "Diversity Day" to be reinstated after the board postponed it twice.
Local 12 first reported about the controversy surrounding Diversity Day when it was canceled with less than 24 hours notice. The district says it was merely a logistical issue, as they forgot to send out the itinerary for the event with the permission slips to parents.
However, after a special board meeting Sunday night, it appears the problem might be more than that.
Many students and parents believe the board takes issue with the content.
Diversity Day is an event filled with activities, discussions, speakers, and media about inclusiveness and cultural differences.
The board seemed to question a very particular part of the day some members thought was detrimental enough to put off the event for the second time : an anonymous questionnaire that is given to students they deemed invasive.
“A couple of the questions were, 'Have you ever been embarrassed or ashamed of your clothes, your house, or family car when growing up?'" said board member Sara Jonas at the meeting.
However, board member Leslie Rasmussen says that is false information.
“The funny part about that is that the things that they read have already been removed because the board members wanted them removed,” said Rasmussen.
Rasmussen decided to not go to the board meeting on Monday, and instead, protest with fellow students and parents.
“I’m not going to be a part of this hateful rhetoric that is just hurting our students ,” she said.
On Sunday night, the board said Diversity Day was offensive to Black families in the district. Members read off a testimony they said was sent to them in e-mail form.
“'If my multicultural children were eligible for this event, I would opt out. Hard pass,'” said Linda Hausfeld, reading the message.
But mother of three Geneva Green says Diversity Day is a space for marginalized people to be heard. She says she wants her multicultural daughters to be in a school where they feel accepted, and that the board’s decision is not reflective of inclusiveness.
"Do you find anything racist about the curriculum they came up with?” Local 12 asked.
“No, and I’m super curious about Sara Jonas and her story about a Black constituent that finds this racist," said Green. "I’m very curious about the legitimacy of that because promoting diversity and understanding among different people is not an attack on anyone."
Another board member, Katie Stewart, says she’s for Diversity Day but wants both high schools, Anderson and Turpin, to be involved.
She did say, however, that she takes issue with some of the content, like the questionnaire. When asked if the board could tweak the questions and get a date for Diversity Day on the books, she said she doesn't know if there's enough time to include both schools before the end of the year.
-
Originally posted by Local12