To the Editor:
A Pointless Attack on Our School
Some Rochester residents are attacking Rochester Memorial School for following state law governing gender identity discrimination and bathroom access. You may have seen the lawn signs and petition to recall the RMS School Committee.
Every Massachusetts school district follows the same law. Every school committee member swears an oath to uphold the laws of the Commonwealth; failure to do so exposes Rochester to fines, penalties and legal action, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill.
Schools can’t change laws; they must follow them. The people with the lawn signs must know this, but still attack our school. This is political theater, but the damage to Rochester is real; vulnerable kids are traumatized, educators and administrators are villainized, education is disrupted, our town is divided, and taxpayers are bled to cover legal expenses.
Those opposing the law lost their fight at the ballot box in 2018 when 68% of Massachusetts voters rejected a measure to repeal it. They also lost their fight in state court, which upheld the law. Our state Legislature is the only remaining avenue to overturn the law. So why are people taking their fight to RMS instead of Beacon Hill?
It’s time for Rochester to move on. RMS is a place of learning, caring, growth and safety; it shouldn’t be used as a battleground in a pointless, costly and divisive war.
Kathryn Tarleton, Rochester
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As a parent, my absolute number one priority is the physical safety of our children. I know that is a value we all share, regardless of our backgrounds or personal/political beliefs. Because of that, I feel a responsibility to speak up about a deeply concerning campaign currently targeting our local schools.
Lately, we’ve seen a push to circulate inflammatory material focused directly on our own students. It is incredibly alarming to see people, often the very same individuals who are the first to voice fears about gender identity driven violence, suddenly directing such intense, public hostility right at the doors of our own classrooms.
What makes this even more infuriating is knowing who is behind it. The same individual who has been responsible for most hateful rhetoric since they decided to move to our small town less than a decade ago. The division over the past 7 years in Rochester is indisputable, and the quiet life many seek by raising their families here is being stripped away largely by one person with a political agenda and the time & funds to back it. The fact that the financial backing for this fear campaign is by someone who recently moved to town and doesn’t even have children attending the schools they are putting a bullseye on should infuriate ALL RMS parents and demands a deeper look.
This isn’t about protecting students; it’s an outside agenda being forced onto our community at the expense of our kids’ safety.
When adults choose to broadcast hostile, targeted material about our small town’s schools at the national level, it doesn’t protect anyone. Instead, (1) It invites unpredictable, dangerous attention to the buildings where our kids learn every single day. (2) It disrupts their education by forcing our schools to manage adult-driven political agendas instead of focusing on teaching. (3) It uses our children as pawns to fund and fuel someone else’s personal campaign while simultaneously placing each and every one of them directly in harms way.
Our kids deserve to go to school in peace, free from manufactured panic and interference from people who don’t even have a stake in our classrooms. If we truly care about student safety, we need to stop putting a national target on our own community. Let the kids learn and STOP painting a bullseye on our schools for those who may be struggling with acceptance and considering turning to violence.