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Students flagged ‘transphobic rhetoric’ in Facebook posts by most recent Easthampton superintendent finalist
The educator reportedly wrote two Facebook posts in 2021 concerning transgender women competing in athletic competitions.
A second Easthampton superintendent finalist fell through last week after students reached out to the city’s mayor with Facebook posts the educator had reportedly made using “conservative transphobic rhetoric,” public records show.
More on Easthampton:
Erica Faginski-Stark withdrew her candidacy just days after the Easthampton School Committee voted on April 10 to offer her the job. Boston.com has reached out to Faginski-Stark for comment.
One of three finalists, the Ludlow Public Schools director of curriculum and instruction was the school committee’s second pick for the job. Their first choice, West Springfield Interim Superintendent of Schools Vito Perrone, had his offer rescinded after he used the term “ladies” in a negotiations email — a controversy that made international headlines.
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But on the same night that the Easthampton School Committee voted to enter negotiations with Faginski-Stark, a student emailed Mayor Nicole LaChapelle — who sits on the committee — with “extreme concerns.”
A copy of the email exchange obtained by Boston.com shows that the student, whose name the city has redacted, shared two posts from Facebook user Erica Faginski.
The posts appear to concern transgender women competing in athletic competitions, with Faginski-Stark writing in one post from March 2021, “Ladies, the glass ceiling is more real now than it’s been in generations. Our choice to use our voice or to remain silent will determine not only the future of women’s athletics but equality for women everywhere.”
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In the other post, from January 2021, she shared a link to a video titled “The End of Women’s Sports” from conservative nonprofit PragerU.
Addressing the Facebook posts, the unnamed student wrote that “with the recent anti trans picketing, many youth in the school are concerned and angry.”
LaChapelle told The Boston Globe that she informed School Committee Chair Cynthia Kwiecinski after receiving the student’s concerns. She said the Easthampton Police Department was able to verify that the Facebook account was real and connected to Faginski-Stark.
Faginski-Stark withdrew her candidacy after Kwiecinski told her about the concerns, LaChapelle told the Globe.
The Easthampton School Committee will meet again on April 25 to discuss the next steps in its superintendent search.
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