“You’re not oppressed. You’re not an oppressor. Stop HiTOPS,” reads the neon sign of Princeton Public Schools parent Luke Alberts, protesting the organization in front of Princeton Middle School. The demonstrations began January 11 and took place for 30 minutes each morning for the following two weeks, where Alberts and several other parent protesters demanded revisions to the HiTOPS’s curriculum taught in PMS classrooms.

PPS’s partnership with HiTOPS began through the state-mandated program Pathways to Racial Literacy. Under New Jersey’s diversity, equity, and inclusion mandate for schools, the “Identity Pathway,” a section of the curriculum making up three of the 25 total courses, focuses on helping students develop their identities and contains discussions about gender, gender expression, and other LGBTQ+ topics. Former PMS counselor, Thomas Foley, now HiTOPS’s Senior Education Manager, teaches the courses together with fellow PMS educators.

“What the lessons are trying to do is to try to help students understand…how others see the world maybe a bit differently,” said Kimberly Tew, PPS’s Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. “It’s about just understanding that we all come from different walks of life. All these different components; our religion, our ethnicity, our socioeconomic status … [and] our gender identity [all] shape how we walk in the world.”

However, several concerned community members see this differently. Junglien Chen, Luke Alberts, and two unidentified protesters participating in demonstrations outside of the school are a part of a larger group of 15 PPS parents organized under the name Parents for Responsible Education Policy. They have claimed that HiTOPS’s educational rhetoric goes beyond the state-mandated “Pathways’’ program and introduces ideas not suited for middle school students. Among these ideas is the “oppressor-oppressed” dynamic, which PREP alleges leads to unfairness and polarization in the classroom, in part through classing students into binary groups of privileged and oppressed.

“The concern is that such a divisive approach may not only oversimplify complex social dynamics but also sow discord among students. [The “oppressor-oppressed” dynamic] fosters a mindset where individuals labeled as ‘oppressed’ might feel justified in their wrongful actions, attributing them to external forces rather than internal choices,” stated the PREP website. “This approach … encourages an externalization of fault [and] detracts from a student’s development of character and accountability.”

The Princeton Board of Education discussed the wider community’s views on both HiTOPS’s curriculum and PREP protests during a meeting on January 30. The meeting provided a platform for PPS parent and member of the LGBTQ+ community Thomas Perc to raise concerns about HiTOPS protestors’ alleged intimidation of children.

“What I said [at the board meeting] was my response to seeing two middle-aged men protesting during drop off and addressing children,” said Perc. “I heard from my daughter and other students that they were engaging with some of the students, and I just thought it was highly inappropriate, very misguided, and downright wrong.”

HiTOPS declined to speak to the Tower concerning these issues.

Several months earlier in September 2023, HiTOPS had also faced widespread criticism after Project Veritas, a national right-wing advocacy group, released a video alleging HiTOPS’s stance against parental consent and “opt-outs” for several of their lessons. HiTOPS responded by stating that the allegations were false and the result of a misrepresentation of an interview. Led by former superintendent Carol Kelley, PPS concurrently denounced Project Veritas’s accusations.

“Our goal is that all students have access to developmentally appropriate, positive, and medically-accurate sex education. We respect a parent’s right to opt their child out of a class or activity. We hope they won’t, but we respect their right to do so,” HiTOPS’s website emphasized in an official statement.

At the January 30 board meeting, Perc emphasized that the middle school was not the right setting to advocate for change.

“This is a state mandatory curriculum. It’s not decided by Principal Burr. It’s not decided by sixth graders. It’s not decided by the Board of Education. It is decided by the governor and [the curriculum] comes down from the state,” Perc said.

At the recent board meeting, Dafna Kendal, the BOE chair, shared an anecdote of a concerned mother whose seventh-grade daughter expressed fear of the protesters’ presence and reportedly asked whether it was necessary to hide from them. Kendal went on to suggest that the protesters continue their protests in front of the municipal Valley Road building instead of the middle school.

“[PREP has] every right to protest on the sidewalk, that’s public property, [but] you know this is all about kids … if someone’s actions are detrimental to children, they should think about their actions,” said Kendal. “And that’s not to say they shouldn’t protest [but] maybe they need to examine how they are protesting and … why it is being reported that some kids are intimidated.”

However, anti-HiTOPS protesters object to accusations of intimidation and deny approaching or speaking to children. Protestor Luke Alberts claimed that the only intimidation suffered by students was a product of immaturity and adverse sensitivity.

“As for children claiming to be ‘intimidated’ or ‘scared,’ grow up. What’s so threatening about a pair of middle-aged doofuses with signs telling anyone who reads them that they’re neither privileged or oppressed? Life isn’t always going to cater to your worldview, which, in the end, can be a wonderful thing,” Alberts said.

Alberts argued for the necessity of protesting in front of the school as a measure of publicity and legitimization.

“If I held up a sign in front of the admin building on Valley Road, do you really think we’d be having this conversation?” said Alberts. “I would just be dismissed as some crank. Ditto in front of the state house.”

At PHS, HiTOPS works with several clubs, including the Gender and Sexuality Alliance club, and offers both a racial literacy elective and the online Princeton Introduction to Racial Literacy course. Additionally, the state-mandated racial and sexual literacy requirements are met through the health, Peer Group, and Teen Pep programs.

“The high school doesn’t [work with HiTOPS] from a curriculum perspective, but some of our clubs, because of their involvement with HiTOPS and the middle school and the community, bring it into the building,” said Birge. “[HiTOPS is] an important organization that provides support for some of our students at PHS.”

In discussing sensitive topics, Birge advocated for engaging in open-minded conversations rather than silencing opposing views. She highlighted the importance of discussion to break away from binary perspectives.

“I think my interpretation of this whole event is to ask what’s the best way to educate our kids to make sure that they grow up to be critical thinkers and be brave enough to meet the world’s challenges,” said Birge.“It’s not that one person is always gonna be progressive and the other always conservative, it’s really a spectrum. … [We want them to] understand … and figure out what’s the best way, most inclusive way, to bring everyone in the audience so that [we] can have a diversified society and promote peace.”