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Public comment at Cumberland meeting features sharp exchanges over school rankings, conduct and Title IX guidance
Summary
Several public commenters criticized a committee member’s podcast remarks and urged policy changes on transgender guidance; others defended the member or called for civil dialogue. Speakers raised test‑score and program achievements for Cumberland Hill and pressed the committee on Title IX and RIDE guidance.
The Cumberland School Committee’s public comment period on March 27 included sharply worded remarks about internal school‑district disputes, accusations aimed at a committee member and calls for policy changes on Title IX and transgender guidance.
Deb Malcolm, principal of Cumberland Hill School, told the committee she needed to respond to comments made at a prior meeting and defended her school’s performance. “Cumberland Hill had the highest scores on NGSA this year out of all the elementary schools in Cumberland,” Malcolm said, and asked the public not to “reclassify schools based on personal criteria.”
Gabrielle Sullivan, a district teacher, delivered a direct rebuke of Committee member Jason Dean’s public statements, calling his conduct “childishly” defensive and saying he had discounted educators’ expertise. Sullivan told the committee she had been “wasting 30 minutes” listening to a recent episode of the member’s podcast and accused him of adding personal opinion to rankings.
Another commenter, Corey Blaze, urged civility and defended the ability to acknowledge differences in school performance without denigrating educators. Blaze cited scores from GreatSchools.org in a call for balanced discussion and encouraged those who disagree to seek dialogue.
Robert Caradeo raised federal and state policy issues relating to sex‑based protections and transgender guidance. He urged the committee to amend the district’s Title IX policy and to reject what he described as RIDE guidance on transgender issues; he also referenced correspondence from a private organization asking the Office for Civil Rights to investigate districts on related matters. Caradeo asked the committee to “protect our girls” and to change policy language to what he described as Title IX’s original intent.
Caleb Minson, also a commenter, framed the debate as part of a broader town divide and urged higher expectations for students while calling for less public rancor. “We can raise the bar and unite this town at the same time,” he said.
The committee did not respond during the comment period, consistent with the public‑comment procedure the chair read at the start of the session. No committee votes on Title IX or related policies were taken at the March 27 meeting.
