PROVINCETOWN
Parents urge caution on anti-bias plan
The Rev. Fred Phelps may have been the loudest to speak against the school's Anti-Bias School and Community Project, but parents also raised objections at a meeting Monday which they closed to the press.
Monday about 60 parents gathered in the Provincetown Community Center to talk about concerns that homosexuality might be introduced into classrooms at too young an age.
Mary Ellen Spingler, who is acting as organizer of these parents, said her group will ask school officials to leave the words gay and lesbian out of classroom lessons until the fourth grade, unless a students asks a direct question.
"We agree they are not dirty words, but we want the right to teach our kids about that when we feel it's the right time," said Debbie Trovato, a mother with elementary-age children.
No specific age has been set for discussions, because the program is still in the planning phase, said Bill Rokicki, elementary school principal.
Activists who started the Anti-Bias school and community project, say they will leave the issue of age-appropriate lessons to the educators.
The anti-bias program aims to gear school curicilium [sic] so that children learn to be unbiased towards all minority groups.