Veteran CT teacher claims in lawsuit he was punished for criticizing district DEI initiative

A longtime Hartford teacher contends in a free speech suit against the city school system that he was wrongly punished for criticizing a mandatory training program that he believes endorses elements of critical race theory that hold U.S. society is inherently racist.

John Grande, who has taught physical education for 35 years, asserts in the suit that in 2020 he was instructed to participate with colleagues in a “Professional Development session focused on race and privilege.” When he was critical of the program, after being asked for his opinion, Grande claims he was issued a letter of reprimand, threatened with dismissal and ordered to submit to sensitivity training.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, asks for erasure of the discipline, as well as financial compensation and legal fees. He is being represented by The Fairness Center, a Pennsylvania-based public interest law firm.

The school system disputes the suit’s contention, but declined to elaborate.

“Hartford Public Schools remains committed to creating safe spaces and robust professional learning opportunities regardless of staff background, beliefs or ideology,” said spokesman Jesse Sugarman. “While we respect the right for all to seek representation, we disagree with the allegations included in said lawsuit. Due to the pending nature of the litigation, we will not issue further comment.”

The suit contends that when Grande was critical of the professional development program he was punished, in violation of his first amendment rights.

“Mr. Grande has spent his professional life educating a diverse body of students as a teacher employed by the Hartford Board of Education,” the suit asserts. “However, when Mr. Grande expressed his feelings about his employer’s presentation on white privilege and use of resources to advance critical race theory, the Board launched a prosecution against Mr. Grande simply because his opinion differed from that of the Board, its Superintendent, and other administrators.

“When the dust settled, Mr. Grande was left with a letter of reprimand in his file, carrying the Board’s imminent threat of termination should he speak out against the Board, its administrators, or its policies again,” the suit says.

In an interview Friday, Grande said: “Filing the federal lawsuit is my last opportunity to remove the letter, clear my name and hold the district officials accountable for how they conducted themselves so this does not happen to me or anyone else again.” He said he was the victim of a “witch hunt” and a “kangaroo court.”

The purpose of the professional development program, according to the suit and other materials, was “to educate the participants on the issue of privilege (including racial, gender, religious, and other proposed forms of social privilege), so school personnel could ‘explore their own identity and privilege to better understand how they relate to their students in order to increase engagement and collaboration.’ ”

Grande claims in his suit that he was directed to answer questions worded in a way that prompted him to affirm he was privileged for identifying “as straight, white, Christian male.”

“Based on those prompts, Mr. Grande believed that the Privilege Presentation targeted a certain class of people, including him, and was an exercise in critical race theory, rather than one aimed at improving the education of students,” the suit contends.

Grande also claims in the suit that the program was “hypocritical” because it included a section based on “ability” privilege, even though years earlier he had been “mocked and mistreated” by a supervisor as a result of his hearing problems.

After an initial presentation, the suit asserts, participants in the training program were directed to form discussion groups and told that it is “OK to feel discomfort,” “you do not have to share,” and to be prepared to “agree to disagree respectfully.”

The discussion group was “quiet and awkward from the start, with little participation,” according to the suit.

The suit contends, “To break the awkward silence, and in response to a question of how the Privilege Presentation made the participants feel, Mr. Grande said, “I was just man-bashed and white-shamed. I’m gonna sit here quietly.” Another participant stated, “I have nothing to apologize for. I’ve worked hard for everything I have.” Mr. Grande agreed with that sentiment and added, “I’ve been teaching in this system for 32 years and I’ve never had to sit through something like this. All I know are minority kids.” In further discussion, Mr. Grande also stated: “I’m not buying into this whitebashing BS.”

Later on in the program, the suit claims, when asked to complete a survey, Grande wrote that Superintendent Leslie Torres-Rodriquez was using the program to advance her career and that focus on “critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion principles have been a hallmark of” her tenure.

The suit claims that Grande was the subject of a district investigation a month later. An email from a senior district official to participants in Grande’s discussion group accused him of “inappropriate and aggressive comments.” The official also said she was “extremely upset and saddened by this behavior, not only because of the comments themselves, but because that teacher created an unsafe and hostile environment for you,” according to the suit.