Education

Parents Express Shock and Anger Following Controversial Remarks Shared By Elementary School's Guest Speaker to 5th Graders

ST. CROIX — It was supposed to be a normal evening at the home of Leishla Carrasquillo, the mother of an 11-year-old 5th grader attending the Alfredo Andrews Elementary School. Her daughter had returned from school on February 13 and was in the bathroom with her mother having regular conversations while her mom was showering. Ms. Carrasquillo's temperament changed when her daughter started going into detail about what had transpired at the school earlier the same day. The daughter said a female guest speaker was talking to a classroom of girls, including the 11-year-old daughter, during the school's Black History Month event, and uttered words that left some of the young girls in the classroom gasping of out astonishment. The guest speaker's topic was on hygiene and the menstrual cycle, and she even brought an undergarment and a menstrual pad for demonstrative purposes, the girl told her mother. But it was when the daughter said that the guest speaker told the classroom filled with ...