A New York television is reporting that a mother claims her 11-year-old daughter was not allowed to use President Trump as her hero for a class assignment.
Bella Moscato, a sixth-grader at the Samoset Middle School in Ronkonkoma, chose Trump as her choice for the hero project at school. Bella says her teacher told her to pick another hero and said Trump “spreads negativity and says bad stuff about women” in front of another teacher and the class, News 12 Long Island reported.
Bella returned home that day upset and explained to her mom and dad what happened.
Valerie Moscato, Bella’s mother, was outraged and told the news outlet that what the teacher did amounts to intimidation and censorship.
“This was really frustrating to me because, you know, my daughter has every right to pick a hero of her choice. It’s first amendment right, freedom of speech, freedom of expression. So it was really upsetting to me that she was trying to shut her down,” she said.
In a document about the class assignment obtained by News 12 Long Island, Bella explained why she chose Trump as her hero when answering the question of “What positive contribution has this person made to society?”
“Donald Trump has helped millions of people by creating a great economy. He is fighting every day to protect the people from drugs crossing the border,” she wrote.
Bella’s father, Arthur Moscato, questioned the school district board during a meeting.
“My daughter’s hero is the president of our country. I can’t believe that anybody in the school would tell my daughter that that guy can’t be her hero,” he said as the audience burst into applause.
“It is not accurate that this student was told that they were not allowed to conduct research or report on any individual for a school assignment, including President Trump. To the best of our knowledge, by choice the student is still conducting their project on President Trump,” Sachem Central School District Superintendent Kenneth Graham said in a statement after the incident.
However, Arthur Moscato was not satisfied with Graham’s statement and scolded Graham for not protecting his daughter.
“My story was said to be inaccurate by you. My story is not inaccurate. My daughter didn’t lie. No one should make a child feel that way, and you’re supposed to protect my child,” he said in the school district board meeting.
Ronkonkoma, about 50 miles from Manhattan, is located in Suffolk County, where the notorious MS-13 gang has been operating for decades.
In the 2016 General Election, 350,570 people, 51.77 percent, voted for Donald Trump in Suffolk County while 303,951 people voted for Hillary Clinton.
Schools are increasingly coming under scrutiny for what some parents call indoctrination.