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Racial injustice book unapproved by district read in some Suffern elementary classrooms

The Suffern Central School District has launched an investigation after an unapproved book was read to elementary school students earlier this month.

Diane Caruso

Oct 21, 2024, 10:22 PM

Updated 30 days ago

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Suffern Central School District has launched an investigation after a book that was not approved by the district was read to elementary school students earlier this month.
The book “Something Happened in Our Town” depicts a white family and a Black family after a Black man is shot by police.
“District officials learned that this book was read in a few select classrooms in one of our elementary schools. As this book is not part of our approved curriculum, we stopped the book from being read and immediately launched an investigation. The investigation is still ongoing,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Erik Gundersen in a statement to News 12 on Monday.
“The book should not have been read and we are deeply sorry for this situation. We have been listening to our families and community partners to understand the true extent of this book’s impact. We are taking this situation as an opportunity to learn and will be implementing new protocols to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
Kate Finch, who has children in the district and is married to a police officer had issues with the book being read in class.
“The book stated that you can't even trust good [police officers] because they stick up for each other. So when you have a whole community of children with good police families then that's a huge issue for us,” she said.
She and other parents plan to speak out at the upcoming school board meeting on Tuesday.
"We also don't want anybody to think we are in any way against children learning about racial injustice. We know that's a problem. It could have been handled very differently," said Finch.
News 12 was told that the Suffern Central School District's investigation may be completed as soon as this week.
Marianne Celano, one of the book’s authors, spoke with News 12.
"What we're hoping is that the book resonates with all families and gives kids and parents a platform to talk about racial injustice and what kids can do to fight racial injustice,” said Celano.
She urges parents to read the caregivers’ note which responds to concerns they may have.