TO:
Ms. Maud Maron
President
Community Education Council 2

June 17, 2020

RE: DEMAND FOR THE IMMEDIATE RESIGNATION OF CEC MEMBER

Dear Ms. Maron,

Under your leadership, at the June 11, 2020 Zoom meeting of Community Education Council 2 that you chaired, which included discussion of a resolution to eliminate discriminatory screens and counter the effects of 400 years of systemic racism, a CEC 2 member, a white man, displayed a Black baby on his lap on camera on more than one occasion.

At 3:08:43 on the meeting recording in response to mentions of structural racism, he said, "My living room is integrated right now."  In response, one CEC member buried her face in her hands, and another CEC member said "What did just happen?” Then, you blurted out loud “Oh, I just realized … we are not recording this meeting, OH, we ARE recording this meeting!” A few minutes after his comment, he held the child up to the camera again.

In other words, a white man who is a CEC member used a Black baby as a prop to make a mocking comment about integration, in the epicenter of the most segregated school system in the nation, at a time when the nation and the world are in turmoil over white supremacy, racism, lack of racial justice, the murder of Black people by the police, and the overall dehumanization of Black bodies by our country.

Among the chat comments from shocked eyewitnesses that immediately followed the CEC member's outburst are:

"OMG"
"Did that just happen?"
"HE DID NOT"
"He did - OMG!"
"oh my god-"
"Disgusting"
"Shame"
"I demand you remove --- from the CEC."
"Why is he on this council"

This incident is representative of the atmosphere of D2 CEC meetings that have had a chilling effect on people attending and speaking, with personal attacks in chat sessions and personal attacks made by council members being tolerated by you and by DOE participants. Imagine the insult and emotional injury any thinking person, especially a person of color, suffered when they witnessed this scene and heard that comment at the June 11 meeting. Immediately after the meeting a Black member of the District 2 community contacted a CEC member to say “[His] comment saying ‘my living room is integrated right now’ was so disgusting and hurtful” and “that’s the thing about white supremacy and people like [him] bringing up George Floyd’s name—it makes people think that the jokes don’t matter because only overt acts of violence against Black people are [considered to be] real racism.”

Regardless of the CEC member's justification, and whether or not he had the consent of the child's adult to do this, his  behavior and comments at the June 11 meeting were by any measure shocking, disgusting, offensive, and racially incendiary. Allowing incidents such as this one to continue without any demonstrable consequences sends a strong message that this type of offensive behavior is allowed, and will only further empower the perpetuation of similar racist behaviors in future meetings. Mr. Wrocklage should immediately apologize and resign from the CEC.

If he does not do so, we insist that you take action to immediately censure this member through a resolution, and work with the DOE to disqualify him for any future CEC or Citywide Council elections.  

Furthermore, if you continue to tolerate such behavior by council members, we deem you unfit to lead the CEC and demand that you resign immediately.

Sincerely,


Patricia Laraia, D2 Parent
Craig Laraia, D2 Parent
Aara Kupris Menzi, D2 Parent
Mar Fitzgerald, D2 Parent
Jonathan Fitzgerald, D2 Parent
Susan Budney, D2 Parent
Nina Miller, D2 Parent
Bonnie Biondi, D2 Parent
Rachel Glube, D2 Parent
David Friedman, D2 Parent
Liz Fried, D2 Parent
Eli Levenstein, D2 Parent
Heather Carlucci, D2 Parent
William Doyle, D2 Parent
Alec Appelbaum, D2 Parent
Emily Blank, D2 Parent
Michael Walsh, D2 Parent
Sophie Ernst Mintz, D2 Parent
Tommy Mintz, D2 Parent
Sonal Patel, D2 Parent
Alison Dow, D2 Parent
Susan Buttenwieser, D2 Parent
A. Jordan Wright, D2 Parent
Heather Campbell, D2 Parent
Robert Osborne, D2 Parent
Mary Curry, D2 Parent
Hector Vazquez, D2 Parent
Tania Vargas, D2 Parent
Rose Arce, D2 Parent
Jody Ro, D2 Parent
Cheryl Wu, D2 Parent
Sarah Frankfurt, D2 Parent
Alexis Audette, D2 Parent
Sanjiv Rao, D2 Parent
Jennifer Warren, D2 Parent
Karyn Thompson, D2 Parent
Akeela Azcuy, D2 Parent                                          
Eric Azcuy, D2 Parent
Jeannine Kiely, D2 Parent
Joanne Diaz, D2 Parent
Nathalie Robbins, D2 Parent
Paul Ashley, D2 Parent
Rebecca Ashley, D2 Parent
Lisa Midyette, D2 Parent
Nancy Chinchar, D2 Parent
Elka Samuels Smith, D2 Parent
Anne Hager, D2 Parent
Josephine Ishmon, D2 Parent
Herman Morales, D2 Parent
Andrew Borges, D2 Parent
Michael Farrah, D2 Parent
Mary Curry, D2 Parent
Jonah Benton, D2 Parent
Scott Bonnell, D2 Parent
Kaena Clark, D2 Parent
Camaron Bar-Lev D2 Parent
Joshua Bar-Lev D2 Parent
Allison Gutstein, D2 Parent
Drew Gutstein, D2 Parent
Charissa Hinnant, D2 Teacher
Liliette Cabrera, D2 Teacher
Rehea Gomez, D2 Teacher
Serena Kappes, D2 Parent
Katinka Haber, D2 Parent
Sarah Gladstone, D2 Parent
jennie lossmann, D2 Parent
Danielle Chao, D2 Parent
Jocelyn Anker, D2 Parent
Corinne Moreno-Geis, D2 Parent
Rebecca Shine, D2 Parent
Mark Hsu, D2 Parent
Holli Harms, D2 Parent
Sarah Sclarandis,  D2 Parent
Sarah Gladstone, D2 Parent
Gena Gerbier, D2 Parent
Shelley Grams, D2 Parent
Nathalie Robbins, D2 Parent
Cristina Hoffman, D2 Parent
Marina Berisha, D2 Parent
Juliet Krantweiss, D2 Parent
Amanda Wells, D2 Parent
Karen L. Hallam, D2 Parent
Lilibeth Feliciano, D2 Parent
Luis Feliciano, D2 Parent
Magdalena Garcia, D2 Parent
Luis Feliciano, D2 Parent
Jennifer Milligan, D2 Parent
Nitara Bowie, D2 Parent
Malti Raisinghani, D2 Parent
Camryn Ramgoolie, D2 Parent
Malti Raisinghani, D2 Parent
Loriane Dixon, D2 Parent
Ashley London Taylor, D2 Parent
Melissa Varma, Past D2 Parent
Anna Rice-Yaffe
Helge Wasmuth
Saida Barker
Freya Sakamotot
Patricia Miller