Scott Masini, principal at Bruce Vento Elementary School
Bruce Vento Elementary School has banned Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas to avoid offending its minority student population. “I have come to the difficult decision to discontinue the celebration of the dominant holidays until we can come to a better understanding of how the dominant views will suppress someone else’s view,” principal Scott Masini wrote in a letter to parents. Masini said the decision was based on his concerns for “tolerance” and “respect,” prompting a backlash from parents who told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the move was “very sad” and “totally ridiculous”. “Masini’s letter states the decision was made in consultation with the school staff, but at least one person who posted online said the principal “is under an immense amount of pressure from many of his own staff who dispute his decision,” reports EAG News. The St. Paul school district has spent almost $1.5 million dollars on “white privilege” teacher training which includes treating shouting out in class as a “black cultural norm” while characterizing being on time as a white cultural stereotype. The training, conducted through contracts with the Pacific Educational Group, was slammed by former fourth grade teacher Aaron Benner, who told EAG News, “As a black man I can say that they are hurting black kids. “I’ve never seen anything as idiotic as PEG. Everything we do, PEG is at the forefront.” As we reported back in December, universities across the country published advisories warning students and staff planning Christmas parties not to include Secret Santa, mistletoe or the colors red and green because they might be seen as politically incorrect. Sit-in protests also swept campuses back in November as a result of an email sent by Erika Christakis, a Yale faculty member and an administrator at a student residence, in which Christakis wrote that students should be able to wear whatever Halloween costume they wanted, even if it offended other people.
