FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2021
CONTACT Edwin Stubbs Edwin@narrative-project.com 973.223.0525
Radical Advocates For Cross-Cultural Education (R.A.C.C.E.) Responds To Waterbury’s Superintendent Single User Bathroom Proposal
WATERBURY, CT - The Waterbury Public School district discussed the need for at least one single-user restroom – open to all students and staff, regardless of gender – per school in the city. This change would follow current state law, which allows students access to single-user restrooms regardless of the gender they identify with. However, despite this step, some board members, specifically Charles L. Stango, have used this opportunity to show their ignorance and intolerance towards this critical matter. In response, Christian Acevedo (They/Them), R.A.C.C.E Student Organizer for (R.A.C.C.E.), issued the following statement: “The remarks made by some of the Waterbury Board of Education commissioners are blatantly ignorant and bigoted. It is this kind of language that promotes harmful learning environments for all students. As an alumnus of the Waterbury Public School District, I must call out Commissioner Stango on his remarks and recommend that he participate in sexual orientation and gender identity training. LGBTQIA+ students in the Waterbury district have been asking for gender-neutral bathrooms for years, long before the ARP funding was ever thought of and before COVID-19. Today, I speak for the students when I say that we need gender-neutral bathrooms across the district. We need more than one gender-neutral restroom where trans and gender non-conforming students can feel comfortable using and changing in those facilities. What we are asking for is not much. We are asking for the bare minimum and anything short of it is a failure.” Tonight at 5:30 pm, Robert Goodrich (He/Him), Executive Director of RACCE, and Christian Acevedo will address the Waterbury Board of Education to assert their advocacy positions through their ARP Plan. Their platform highlights that the Waterbury community does not share Commissioner Stango’s gender identity and sexuality beliefs. He must recuse himself from these deliberations and seek training and support to understand his constituents better. The meeting will be broadcast live on the City of Waterbury’s Government Access Channel (Comcast Channel 96, Frontier Channel 6096) and streamed live at https://youtu.be/JdjVSdsvZM4 or listened to via teleconference by calling 1-203-590-9756. For additional information regarding agenda items, please visit www.waterbury.k12.ct.us/board and refer to the October 7, 2021 Meeting Agenda.
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About Radical Advocates for Cross-Cultural Education (R.A.C.C.E.) Our mission is to challenge systems of oppression by advocating for culturally competent educational practices. Therefore, we believe the most effective way to triumph over systemic forms of oppression is to have an educational system that serves the historically underserved and underrepresented. This can only be accomplished if we advocate for an educational system that is positioned to provide culturally competent school professionals and curriculum, human services, and disciplinary policies, which combat: generational poverty, achievement gaps, implicit and explicit biases towards race, ethnicity and gender.