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By TRAVIS ROBERTS
SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The school committee got an earful Tuesday night after several parents and concerned citizens raised complaints about the political leanings of speakers at the high school. During public comments, Keith Mlyniec, whose son John Henry attends South Kingstown High School, said he was outraged that students were made to attend a speech by Dr. John Nirenburg in the library last week.
Nirenburg is a 60-year-old Vermont resident who is walking from Boston to Washington D.C. to persuade Congress to impeach President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. At the high school, Mlyniec said Nirenburg spoke out against the war and then passed around a petition for students to sign for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. “He said [Bush] was a criminal and asked them to sign a petition for his impeachment. There was no opposing side and there was no choice for the students not to go. There were adults in the room clapping for this guy,” said Mlyniec, pastor of West Kingston Baptist Church. “I want to know when and who will give a balanced view now. This speaker was so far to the left that you’d need one so far to the right to balance it out,” he added. Three years ago the high school found itself in a similar situation when the school invited former Boston University professor, Dr. Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States, to speak to students about his opposition to American foreign policy and President Bush. Several parents and town Republicans came out to raise objections and the school later invited Dr. Stephan Thernstrom of Harvard, a conservative commentator, to counter Zinn’s viewpoint. Mlyniec stated he not only expected another speaker to be brought into balance Nirenberg’s views, but also asked if offended students were owed an apology. “I read your bylaws, it says no solicitation is allowed,” explained Mlyniec, adding another bylaw he found which states the school discourages bias. Chairman of the South Kingstown Republican Party David Cote was also in attendance with a few other town Republicans to voice their concerns about the speaker. “Over the past five years do we have a list of speakers coming to South Kingstown High School, because it seems like the far left is the predominant viewpoint,” said Cote. “Some of the information he said about the Iraq war was totally erroneous. I see a lot of erroneous letters in the paper about the war and now it’s being brought into the classrooms.” Chairman of the School Committee Dr. Anthony Mega, responded that the school committee does not have a policy to determine which speakers are invited. “I think school committees get into dangerous areas when they determine who represents educational value,” said Mega, citing that the school committee does no decide on what speaker’s staff choose to bring into the school. “I will say that critical thinking is part of the educational process. If critical thinking is brought to the forefront then it did have some educational value,” added Mega. Superintendent Dr. Robert Hicks said that in the past he had received complaints about speakers being pro-government and that the school should have more anti-government speakers. Mega then explained that they felt South Kingstown High School students were fully capable of critical thought regardless of the speaker’s beliefs, something Cote agreed with, but still felt there were balance problems. “The students are very intelligent,” said Cote. Even Jim Cavanaugh, former chairman of the Narragansett Republican Town Committee was in attendance, because his granddaughter is a student at the school. Citing Nirenburg’s assertion that to much money is being spent on a Iraq, Cavanaugh said he felt to much money was being spent on social programs. “Twenty-six percent of our budget is spent on social programs. The founding fathers said our number one goal was national defense,” said Cavanaugh. “It’s well I’m not armed. If I find my granddaughter signed that petition, the next time I see you will be in court and I will sue your butts. “This left-wing wacko crap has got to stop,” he added. At the end of the meeting, committee members commented about the issue further. “We have to walk a fine line between managing policy and getting involved in instruction,” said committee member Richard Angeli. “I hope fair balance is considered as seeing both sides is important. I am concerned about students being able to opt out of a program and I think passing a petition around may have crossed the line.”
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