Town defends anti-bias school program attacked by media

By K.C. MYERS
STAFF WRITER

PROVINCETOWN - Despite what some talk show hosts and national newspapers say, the Anti-Bias School and Community Project in Provincetown schools is not exclusively about homosexuality.

Last week 75 people attended a school committee meeting in support of a program that would educate teachers and students to handle issues of race, gender and other differences with sensitivity in the classroom.

Two days later, the Washington Times published a story headlined, "Provincetown preschoolers to learn ABCs of being gay."

The story focused on the gay aspects, which are only a part of the anti-bias working group's agenda. The day the story ran, two Boston papers and a television crew interviewed town officials, who denounced the Washington Times piece.

"I was appalled that the national media would act in such a degrading and nasty way," said Stephan Nofield, the town clerk. "I read something that did not happen Provincetown. The newspaper ran a story just to sensationalize something that wasn't even proposed."

Since the media attention, so far two "hate mail" letters were sent anonymously. One from California was addressed to "Mayor of Provincetown. Homosexual School Teachers, City Hall," said Town Manager Keith Bergman.

The anti-bias working group formed earlier this year after Jeannine Cristina, president of the Parent Teachers Association, noticed no school celebration of Black History Month.

Although Cristina is a lesbian mother, the issue that motivated her was racial, she said. Her 7-year-old daughter, Hannah, is bi-racial.

She said the anti-bias program, still in its early stages, began this morning with a community forum from 8:30 to noon titled, "Working together toward an anti-bias education. What does it mean? How do we get there?"

Speakers include representatives from the Newton school district, a member of the Portuguese Youth Cultural Organization of Fall River, and a member of the state Department of Education.

The Provincetown school department has ordered two teachers' manuals, "Rethinking Our Classrooms: Teaching for Equity and Justice," and "Anti-Bias Curriculum: Tools for Empowering Young Children."

Part of the plan in the future is to order textbooks that take issues of diversity into consideration, said Town Manager Keith Bergman, a task force member.

While sexual orientation is not the only topic on the agenda, neither will it be ignored.

"When you talk about oppression, you should include all groups that are oppressed," said Cristina.

Cristina has now told national and local media that she is a lesbian mother who became pregnant after being artificially inseminated, but she does not like to see her private life plastered all over the press.

"There's a lot more to me than that," she said. "But I'm very proud of who I am, and I'm not afraid to admit any of the choices I've made in my life."

CAPE COD TIMES, August 28, 1997

Anti-bias program gets unexpected kickoff

By K.C. MYERS
STAFF WRITER

PROVINCETOWN - Kathy Schiffenhaus, a Provincetown parent, admitted she felt angry at gays and lesbians all winter because they own so much property in town and she was having a hard time finding an affordable place to live.

Other parents yesterday frankly admitted their own biases in the wake of controversy surrounding the school's Anti-Bias School and Community Project. A forum gave community members a chance to ask questions and give their ideas on a new program that will train teachers and students to be sensitive to people of different races, class, and sexual orientation.

The lessons started even before the school doors opened.

"Being a straight, single parent, I experienced a lot of discrimination from gay and lesbian property owners who wanted to rent to gays or lesbians," Schiffenhaus told about 50 people at the forum.

But then something happened that changed her mind.

Schiffenhaus, who has an autistic child, put an advertisement in the newspaper asking for an inexpensive car so she could drive her child to Boston to receive medical treatments. She indicated in the classified ad she was a single mother.

"A gay woman who owns a business in town called me and she said it must be so hard to be a single mother," Schiffenhaus said. The caller said she didn't have a car to sell Schiffenhaus, but would donate $1,500 toward a car.

"I bought that car yesterday," Schiffenhaus said. "That changed my mind completely. I lost that anger and I realized I was prejudiced."

She also said many people on the anti-bias working group appear hypocritical because they do not encourage their children to play with her son.

John Caruso, a gay man who was not a panelist, said many people in Provincetown are experiencing "class-driven homophobia."

The property values have sky-rocketed, resulting in a displacement of the working class, he said. Families are further squeezed by a real estate market driven by single residents who buy condominiums. The single-family homes are converted into condominiums that are not big enough for most families with children.

"When wealthy gays and lesbians move to town, the entitlement that their class gives them is never examined. Instead, it is always expressed in terms of their sexual orientation," Caruso said.

"Being white and upper class is the norm - these are esteemed characteristics in this culture - and people are not going to attack the norm," said Caruso. "So instead of dealing with the economic issue, it is expressed by homophobia because that is so much more different from them."

Caruso said he, too, was upset about condominium conversions and the loss of the working class in Provincetown. But that really is the issue, not the sexual orientation of the residents.

The Anti-bias School and Community Project is not unique. Similar training projects are taking place in schools statewide. The difference in Provincetown is the program received national media coverage, said Bob Parlin, a history teacher from Newton South High School and a member of that school's Safer Schools program. He was a panelist at yesterday's meeting.

The Washington Times reported last week the anti-bias project would focus on homosexuality education in the schools. In fact, the project includes all minority perspectives in textbooks, lectures and lesson plans so that other groups besides the cultural norm are represented.

But it is no surprise some media picked up on the issue of homosexuality in a town known for its large gay population. At yesterday's forum many of the parents' comments indicated tensions between the heterosexual and homosexual populations.

Cheryl Souza said she did not want her children to hear "that person is sleeping with that person."

Parlin said elementary school students would not be talked to about sex. But they might learn about family structure, and should be told not everyone comes from a two-parent household.

Paul Silva said the schools should be careful to include everyone and to avoid passing on too many values that should be taught at home.

Schools Supt. Susan Fleming, who is a member of the anti-bias group, asked Silva and Schiffenhaus to tell her if she is excluding anyone in the process.

She said the students may not see too much of the anti-bias program this year. For now the working group will hold meetings with teachers and community members to decide how to incorporate the project into regular classes.

"We will be dialoguing with each other," said Fleming. "That is our goal for this year."

CAPE COD TIMES, August 29, 1997

EDITORIAL: Another swipe at Provincetown
Provincetown takes a hit from the right-wing national media. It's a shame their shots went so wide of the mark.

By doing right, Provincetown had a recent, far-reaching brush with institutional ignorance. The Washington Times, a conservative daily in the nation's capital, reported on P-town's Anti-Bias School and Community Project under the headline, "Provincetown pre-schoolers to learn the ABCs of being gay." The germ -- perhaps more accurately, the virus -- of the story was picked up by wire services, television and the print media.

Conservative outlets, including radio talk shows, pounced on the story like a morsel from a banquet. Given the Washington Times' conscious selectivity, many of these outlets initially got the Provincetown project entirely wrong. The suggestion was that the school system is promoting homosexuality, an utterly ridiculous -- if self-serving -- interpretation.

Had the entire scope of the project been discussed, it might have made sense to even the most ardent right wingers. But objectivity and discussions in depth do tend to dull the cutting edge of interest.

In fact, Provincetown's enlightened program is designed to give teachers and, through them, youngsters, a clear understanding of what prejudice is, how it affects those who become its victims and how to deal with such injustices when they occur.

Critics who seized on the program's bias-against-gays aspect (a favorite target of the ultra-conservative wing) perhaps intentionally ignored the fact that intolerance is pervasive, and can be dealt with.

Those who designed the Provincetown program also recognize that childhood is the best time to teach that intolerance is evil and destructive. The fact is, children learn quickly, and dealing with intolerance is a lesson well worth teaching.

This latest nudge-wink attack on Provincetown by some who reasonably could be described as intolerant is hardly unique but certainly misdirected. There are few places in the world as truly multicultural. This storied town is one of those rare communities that have made the greater strides in accepting and blending outstandingly diverse groups.

Provincetown's society is a lesson in communal acceptance and living harmoniously -- both hallmarks of democracy and Christianity, no matter where you sit on the political spectrum.