[Redacted] and gentlemen
Madeline Fry Schultz
Vito Perrone was almost all set to become superintendent of Easthampton Public Schools in Massachusetts. He was going to take a small pay cut, but that was fine.
“This job was not about the money for me,” he told the Daily Hampshire Gazette. “I honestly felt like I was coming home to Easthampton. I coached football here. I was principal here when we built the school. … I was excited to come back.”
Then, in the midst of emailed salary negotiations with the school district’s chairwoman and an executive assistant, also a woman, Perrone committed an unforgivable sin: He addressed them as “ladies.”
Perrone says Chairwoman Cynthia Kwiecinski called the term “ladies” a “microaggression,” saying that “the fact that he didn’t know that as an educator was a problem.”
His job offer was promptly rescinded.
“I was shocked. I grew up in a time when ‘ladies’ and ‘gentlemen’ was a sign of respect. I didn’t intend to insult anyone,” Perrone said.
Leave it to liberal educators in the progressive state of Massachusetts to turn a nicety into an insult.
Days after Perrone’s offer was revoked and his alleged microaggression made the news, he received an outpouring of support from the community. On Monday evening, 150-plus people rallied by the city municipal building to show their support for Perrone’s rehiring.
Even the school district’s teachers union decried the hiring committee’s embrace of cancel culture. “Changing votes behind closed doors is unacceptable!” the union said in a Facebook post. “Shame on the School Committee for participating in cancel culture.”
When even the teachers union thinks you’ve gone off a left-wing cliff, you know you’ve done something wrong. But why shouldn’t these educators think that punishing a new hire for an innocuous word choice is acceptable? According to an article in Harvard Business Review, “the reality is that microaggressions are not so micro in terms of their impact. They should be taken seriously, because at their core they signal disrespect and reflect inequality.”
Another article on “Supporting LGBTQ+ Workers’ Mental Health” directs readers to say “hello everyone” instead of “ladies and gentlemen” because the latter does not reflect “inclusive language.”
So educators are being taught that proper pronoun use and nongendered language are of utmost importance. Those ladies on the Easthampton committee probably thought they were bravely standing up against chauvinism by using their positions to tank the new job of a qualified and popular candidate.
These people are in charge of making educational choices for children. That doesn’t mean they need to act like children.