Schools Unveil New Policy To Vet Visiting Speakers Following Controversy

Nantucket Public School (NPS) Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett presented the school’s new protocol for vetting guest speakers and presenters at a School Committee meeting last Tuesday, following backlash from the district's decision to pay conservative Christian motivational speaker Maxamillian Dutton $5,000 to address the Nantucket High School student body.

The new policy requires a vetting committee to review speakers before they present, screening them to ensure they align with the district’s curriculum, policies, values, mission, and vision. The policy specifically instructs the committee to review speakers’ public social media accounts, as well as their websites, news coverage, organizational affiliations, and other relevant factors.

During the backlash earlier this month, NPS representatives admitted they had not reviewed Dutton’s social media, where he posted a number of controversial videos, including one where he claimed “you’re not a real Christian woman if you are not submitting to your husband” and “a good man will get his wife to submit to him.” That Instagram post was published the day of his appearance at NHS, and referenced a passage in Ephesians, a book in the New Testament of the Bible, which states: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.”

“We have made fast changes,” Hallett said. “It is crucial to have anyone who is coming to speak with our students vetted and carefully reviewed.”

NPS administrators have not shared what vetting process, if any, was used to screen Dutton or other past speakers.

The purpose of the protocol, according to a draft circulated at Tuesday’s School Committee meeting, is to “ensure that all guest speakers and presenters invited to Nantucket Public Schools (NPS) provide educational, inspiring, and developmentally appropriate content that aligns with the district’s core values, mission, and vision, while maintaining the trust of our school community.”

To achieve that purpose, the protocol establishes a vetting committee consisting of the relevant school’s principal or their designee, a teacher, the Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent, and, optionally, a community or parent liaison. At the high school level, when age-appropriate, a student will also be included on the committee.

At Tuesday’s meeting, School Committee member Tim Lepore and chair Laura Gallagher Byrne pushed for a School Committee member to be included on the vetting committee.

“Since the School Committee is the final backstop, why not have a School Committee member in that vetting committee? Because it’s going to all come down on our heads,” Lepore said. “As the representatives of the community, I think [we] should have a person there.”

Hallett objected to their suggestion.

“I want to maintain a level of trust,” she said. “The situation that occurred was a simple mistake. We sent out messages stating our regret, and we have learned from that misstep, so that will never happen again, and I would hope that going forward, there is a sense of trust that can be re-instilled between the School Committee, and the school leaders, and the district leader, so that you don’t need to be directly involved.”

In addition to ensuring speakers align with the district’s values, the protocol instructs the vetting committee to review the developmental appropriateness and clarity of purpose of speakers and search for evidence of professionalism and credibility.

The protocol instructs the vetting committee to look for “political, religious, or commercial promotion outside appropriate educational bounds,” and “ensure the message supports inclusivity, equity, and respect.”

It also says that presentations must “be free of discrimination, bias, or proselytizing” and that speakers are “not to promote personal, political, or religious agendas.”

“I have faith that this process, this new process that is being put in place, will be able to weed out a lot of those issues that we found and problems that we found ourselves with last week,” School Committee member Shantaw Bloise Murphy said.

Hallett and Nantucket High School principal Mandy Vasil confirmed that the new protocol was used successfully to vet visiting authors presenting at the school last week. Halett also confirmed that, under the new policy, parents will be notified of any speakers in advance.

The protocol states that “no speaker may be scheduled without committee approval and superintendent sign-off,” and that emergency or last-minute requests “require expedited review by at least the building administrator and the Superintendent.”

The full policy can be viewed in the School Committee’s agenda packet, available here.

Dutton has not responded to repeated requests for comment from the Current.