The use of the word “ladies” in addressing two female officials caused a Massachusetts school board to rescind a job offer for superintendent to the district’s former principal—igniting social media backlash, street rallies, a recall petition, and even death threats.
“Shame on the school committee for participating in cancel culture!” wrote the Easthampton Education Association in a Facebook post slamming the decision to recant the job offer to Vito Perrone, who currently serves as an interim superintendent at the nearby West Springfield schools.
‘Double Standards’
Perrone’s attorney Jim Winston told The Epoch Times that the only reason he even used the greeting is that Colby told him to forward an email he addressed only to her to Kwiecinski.He sees it as a case of double standards.
“Picture a woman applicant who used the term ladies to address these women—no one would blink twice. Or a woman applicant who is emailing males—and she emailed gentlemen—no one would blink twice,” said Winston. “It’s double standards.”
Perrone also just doesn’t have a background that fits the implications said Winston.
The Connecticut native, a former coach and professional football player for the Italian Federal of American Football, also was a teacher for 10 years for the Nevada prison system.
As part of his current job in West Springfield, Perrone is the designated coordinator for the school’s non-discrimination policy tailored to meet Title IX requirements, which the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights has said prohibits discrimination based on gender identity.
Backing From Liberal Area
The controversy has boiled over in an area of New England with a large gay population. Last year, the LGBT Chamber of Commerce picked Easthampton as its headquarters. The town is also adjacent to Northampton, long nicknamed Lesbianville for its large population of lesbian couples.“You'd be hard-pressed to find to find a more liberal area in general,” said Winston, a lifelong resident of Northampton.
However, despite the area’s liberal ranking, there has been mostly support for Perrone including a recall petition of the school board spearheaded by Easthampton high school cheerleading coach Marissa Branscomb.
“The act in question is using the term ‘ladies’ in an email [in a warm, respectful, and kind manner],” wrote Branscomb in promoting the petition.
“Not only does this sudden rescinding feel suspicious but it seems there is a personal agenda at work and possible sexist behaviors against a wonderful man.”
As for the term microaggression—it was first coined by Harvard University psychiatrist Chester M. Pierce in 1970 to describe subtle insults by white people against black people.
It is now used to describe unintentional discrimination against any group perceived as marginalized.
Colby has since posted on social media that she did not mind being called a “lady.”
‘Extremely Unprofessional’
In a statement released by Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle following a blizzard of fury over the decision, Kwiecinski said she and most of the school board was insulted by Perrone’s use of the word “ladies” because they felt it was “extremely unprofessional” and “inappropriate.”“The salutation ‘Ladies’ raised concerns among most that the candidate might make administrators and teachers feel uncomfortable if used in the future instead of calling them by their names or titles,” she wrote.
Kwiecinski also wrote that there were other concerns about Perrone including his request for a higher pay offer than the $150,000 salary the job came with, along with a request for additional vacation, leave, and sick times that would total 14 weeks of paid time off—“unacceptable for a first-year superintendent.”
According to Winston, Perrone was seeking a pay raise after his first year and said he was certainly open to negotiations. He pointed out the board originally voted 4 to 3 to offer him the superintendent position and that Kwiecisnki was on the opposing side from the start.
On April 10, the board voted 5 to 2 to officially end any negotiations with Perrone, ignoring demands from the community they reconsider him.
Instead, in a 5 to 1 vote, they approved Erica Fagisnki-Stark, director of curriculum and instruction at nearby Ludlow Public Schools, for the superintendent job.
The vote came less than two weeks after Perrone, who served eight years as a school principal in the Easthampton school district, sat before the board at a televised school board meeting telling him how he was happy to be “back home again.”
After learning that Perrone would not be returning to Easthampton after all, a large group of residents bearing signs including “Education Not Cancellation” and “We Stand With Dr. Perrone” took to the streets in protest of the board’s decision to rescind Perrone’s job offer.
Another sign read “Veto the SC, We Want Vito.”
Some school board members posted this week on social media that they have been subject to death threats that are now under police investigation.
The national group Christian Action Network also chimed in on the Easthampton controversy writing mockingly in a recent blog, “No word yet on whether the classic film ‘My Fair Lady’ will need a title makeover” adding—“Maybe ‘My Fair Person of Any Gender Identity’ will do the trick?”
Kwiecinski and Colby did not respond to inquiries from The Epoch Times for this story.
