Letter: Parent’s attack on Williams Field teacher is absurd – Daily Independent

By Nicole Camp

My daughter is in Brittany O’Neill’s Multicultural Literature class at Williams Field High School. This is a college level class. Our children embrace it because they are intelligent and mature enough to handle learning about other cultures and their histories.

First, these are high school seniors, so Mr. Villafranca who reported the teacher to the police is very naive or willfully ignorant if he thinks none of them have ever heard, read, talked, or even had sex before. This guy is acting overly concerned about a book his son hasn’t even read because he’s been given an alternate assignment.

Parents received the book list at the beginning of the year. If I remember correctly, only one or two parents decided to keep their children out of the class after receiving the list. Although I think this is to the detriment of these children, these parents were given a choice and did what they felt was right for them.

Before each book is given out, parents must sign a permission slip online and/or on paper. Mr. Villafranca could have taken his child out of class if he was so upset with the college level reading material. But he didn’t. His son was given an alternative reading book because Mr. Villafranca had trouble with “Homegoing.”

He created a problem where there literally was none. This guy is just bullying a hardworking and excellent teacher for attention. For him to get the police involved is complete madness. He seems to be part of this new brand of conservatives that is creeping into our school boards and slowly destroying public education.

Each parent was given the information and given choice to let their children read and learn from these stories.

From mother to child in Mrs. O’Neill’s multicultural lit class who reads all the books.

I’m happy to report that after reading the first three, our world view has expanded slightly and we’re yet to burst into flames or take over the world by forcing everyone to read the same books.