The Sutton Files, Part 2: More Receipts, a Drag Queen Video, and the Lowdown on the Future of ConCon
We spill the rest of the tea on 2024's biggest story. What happens in 2025 is up to Sutton residents (and you).
The story of the drag queen who danced on a table for students in Sutton, MA was by far our biggest story of 2024. What started as an investigation into photos of a grown man in a miniskirt apparently showing his underwear to kids at school turned into a deep dive into why it happened, and who was to blame. What we uncovered was more than just one pink-skirted anomaly - it was part of an annual social justice conference. The people of Sutton, irate that this was going on in their school system, made their voices heard. Their brave and timely action started to turn the tide, but the story was still developing. To read the previous posts about the Connections Conference, AKA “ConCon” and Sutton Public Schools click here, here, and here.
Today we spill the rest of the tea about what happened, what we know, and what Suttoners (and every MA parent) needs to pay attention to in the future.
The day after our last Sutton update was published back in October, the Sutton School Committee met and ConCon was on the agenda. At that meeting an announcement was made that warmed the hearts of concerned Sutton parents: not only would Sutton not host ConCon going forward, it would no longer be affiliated with the Sutton Public Schools. You can watch the video of Sutton’s Interim Superintendent Caitlin Paget sharing this good news here.
Interim Superintendent Paget informed the crowd that on September 25th, SHS Principal Ted McCarthy had sent her and School Committee Chair Ben Gibbons a letter stating that going forward, the Connections Conference would be organized and run by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).
You can also see this noted in the Superintendent’s Report, downloadable here.
In our previous Sutton update, we told you about Ted McCarthy’s relationship with NEASC, a powerful and wealthy outside organization replete with woke ideology. NEASC was ConCon’s largest sponsor, and they had expressed a desire to replicate the conference elsewhere in New England. We thought the good people of Sutton needed to take note that NEASC seemed perfectly happy to partner with their taxpayer-funded administrator (and prop up ConCon financially) because the conference fit their progressive agenda, regardless of whether it was supported by the Sutton community or was what was best for Sutton students. Since we already had our eye on NEASC, this new development was intriguing.
In his letter McCarthy gave no explanation for NEASC taking over, but we instantly assumed that since the climate had changed so much in Sutton, he realized if he wanted ConCon to continue to exist, he needed to remove it from the control of the Sutton school committee.
As of today, ConCon 2025 is slated to be held at Clark University in Worcester on Friday, March 7.
While this move is good news to the people of Sutton - a true credit to their hard work and ongoing advocacy - it does not bring accountability for the embarrassment and offense that ConCon and its leadership have caused. Quite the opposite is true, actually. It shifts the problem elsewhere creating the illusion of resolution, all the while allowing the problem to perpetuate without anyone ultimately being held responsible. It’s the type of change a person might make if they want their critics to leave them alone, but they don’t actually see anything wrong with what they are doing.
In other words, if you are a Sutton High School administrator who loves ConCon and thinks having drag queens perform for kids is totally ok, and you are hoping to keep your day job while still maintaining your activism in spite of the fact that it flies in the face of the common-sense values of your community, it’s the best possible scenario.
We know that some folks in Sutton, especially those involved with moving ConCon outside of the district, were probably hoping that the October 7th announcement would be enough to settle the issue. Why not move on, right?
Move on we will, but not quite yet, because:
a. We told you that there would be a part 2 with more details on what we learned from our public records requests, and we keep our promises. The residents of Sutton and the Sutton school committee deserve to have this information.
b. Almost all of the SPS staff members responsible for ConCon still work there, so there is still potential for further woke shenanigans in Sutton schools.
c. ConCon is not dead. In fact, NEASC has a larger platform to market ConCon than the SPS ever did. It’s more important now than ever that all MA parents know about this conference and the ideology behind it so that they can protect their kids.
So, back to the public records requests. Specifically, the one we left off with last time, referenced in the screenshot below.
The emails “containing the phrase ‘drag queen,’ ‘Diva D,’ ‘Pride Worcester,’ or ‘Don’t be a drag, just be a queen’” provide a fascinating look into multiple angles of the ConCon drama. While far from conclusive (this request was made in early April, so it does not include drag queen-related documents from after that date), what we learned was both interesting and important.
The mystery of the disappearing photos was solved.
When the now-famous pink-skirt-drag-queen photos first made their way out of Sutton’s inner circles back in March of 2024, some folks questioned their validity because the originals were nowhere to be found. Before we published any information we did our own homework, and our research informed us that they were indeed real. We couldn’t find them online either, but we had a theory as to why we couldn’t. We believed they had been posted to the SHS website under “Photos of the Year,” and then removed. This section of the website, featured prominently on the home page, is really just a link to a google drive where certain SHS staff and students are permitted to upload photos from various events that take place at the school. The photos can then be downloaded by members of the public. We knew that even a woke public school employee would probably not make the rookie mistake of posting drag queen photos to their official school website. But a google drive where multiple people - including students - had permission to share photos? Well, that’s a different story altogether.
Our theory was confirmed in the following email exchange between former Superintendent Kim Roberts-Morandi and Principal McCarthy.
On Saturday March 23rd, Roberts-Morandi emailed McCarthy and told him that he must remove photos of the drag performer from the website. She doesn’t specify exactly what website she is referring to.
McCarthy’s response indicates confusion (although he seems quite confident that the video on the Connections website does not have the drag queen in it).
Roberts-Morandi had not seen the photos herself, she says, but someone had reported to her that the HS had posted them. She is hoping this was not true.
Ted wanted to know who reported the photos.
Roberts-Morandi said they were reported by a supporter of ConCon.
Ted then confirms that photos of the drag queen had indeed been on the website, but he deleted them. He also implies that they would have been difficult to find (despite the fact that they had been in a folder linked on the main website).
Reading these emails, one might assume that Ted deleted the photos at his boss’s request on March 23rd. We’re willing to bet that’s what the former Superintendent assumed, too. But in reality, McCarthy had deleted them far earlier. We know this because on March 20th, a member of the community had alerted a member of the school committee to the presence of these same photos.
Yet a little over an hour later, when the school committee member went to follow up on his constituent’s request to view the photos, it seems he could not find them.
The constituent had been able to view them that morning, but by 1:55 pm they had been removed from the website.
These emails not only confirm that our theory of the origin of the photos was correct, they leave us with serious questions about the relationship between McCarthy and his former boss.
First, we can’t help but notice that McCarthy removed the problematic photos days before Roberts-Morandi became aware of them, yet he didn’t bother to let her know about this possible ticking timebomb. Why didn’t he give her a heads up? And when she did ask about photos, why does it take multiple emails for him to explain the situation?
Second, Roberts-Morandi apparently felt the need to caveat her common-sense request to remove photos of a drag queen from a school website. “This is not about prejudice, which I realize could be the appearance…” she explained. Why must she explain such an obvious request? Who did she think was going to accuse her of prejudice?
Finally, Roberts-Morandi immediately recognizes the drag queen’s actions as inappropriate. Take a look again at the portions of this email we underlined in red.
Who, in her estimation had disregarded expectations that were set? Who had violated a code of conduct? It appears she is referring to the drag queen, yet in our last post we read the email exchange between McCarthy and the drag queen that occurred prior to his appearance. At no point during this exchange were there any “expectations” set for his performance. As a matter of fact, McCarthy later specifically stated that he didn’t think “Worcester Pride did anything wrong.”
So where did the breakdown occur? Was Roberts-Morandi led to believe that Ted would instruct the drag queen on how to act, but he didn’t actually do it? Or did Ted give the drag queen instructions on what was appropriate and the drag queen ignored him (yet Ted refuses to say so)? Either way, since one of the two administrators in this thread still works for the SPS, Sutton parents and the Sutton school committee should find out what really happened.
Suttoners spoke up (but did not receive equal treatment).
The emails returned in our public records request revealed that parents and community members on both sides of the issue contacted district leadership to ask questions about ConCon, express concern, or pledge support. We only saw one email that was crass and vulgar, and none that were overtly threatening. Emails sent in support of ConCon often elicited warm responses from their recipients, but emails opposing the event were not as well received.
In one instance, a Suttoner reached out respectfully to Anne Corron, the principal of Sutton Middle School.
Principal Corron sent a cordial response, but did not provide much information.
This answer was not adequate for the inquirer, who sent a follow up question.
Corron apparently didn’t know how to answer these questions, so she reached out to Ted McCarthy and then forwarded them to him under a new subject line, along with a snarky comment.
McCarthy then replied to her with what appears to be a response he drafted himself for her to send back to the parent.
This made us wonder, why can’t Principal Corron answer simple questions about an event that some of her own students participated in? And why does she feel justified in making a snarky comment about a parent who is respectfully asking questions?
But disrespect for community concerns was not limited to paid administrators. It was also present on the school committee.
One constituent who disagreed with ConCon wrote a letter and sent it to multiple school committee members, as well as some other elected officials. School committee member Paul Brennan thought it would be appropriate to forward the letter to members of his family, along with his commentary.
One of his family members responded, replying to all.
This family member is not an elected official, so rather than criticize her comments, we’ll let them speak for themselves. But we did find it interesting that she referenced “Ted McCarthy’s talk about implicit bias,” as if a parent expressing concern about a drag queen dancing for kids is merely in need of some good, old-fashioned, McCarthy re-education.
Her comment brought this “Ted” talk to mind: From Confederate Flags to Rainbow Flags: Sutton High School’s DEI Journey. Provided to us by a resident of Sutton, it gives curious readers a sneak peek into what a McCarthy implicit bias talk might actually look like.
We won’t go through it all, but here’s just one of the slides, which speaks volumes.
You can download the pdf for the full presentation here.
If you’ve been following the drama in Sutton, you probably recall that Paul Brennan lost his bid for reelection in May 2024. He is no longer on the Sutton school committee. This now-unearthed email exchange just goes to show that the voters of Sutton made a good decision. Elected officials who mock their constituents deserve to be exposed. They also deserve to be voted out. In this case the right thing happened, it just happened in reverse order.
McCarthy’s right hand woman sent out the Bat-Signal… of wokeness.
As we have discussed previously, Coleen Motyl-Szary is Ted McCarthy’s number one partner in all things ConCon. In addition to being a ConCon advisor she is also the SHS World Language Chair (who in April 2024 took Sutton students out of the country on a trip to Costa Rica), the head of the GSA at Sutton High, and the type of staff member who thinks nothing of posting images like this to her public facebook profile, easily viewed by students.
After ConCon went viral in early April, Motyl-Szary sent a dramatic email to Jeff Perrotti asking for help. Perrotti is the founding director of DESE’s Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students. He often speaks on issues related to gender and sexuality and is an advocate of measures like all-gender restrooms and “safe zone” stickers. His “Safe Schools” initiative is one of the biggest drivers of gender ideology and indoctrination into diverse sexualities in MA public schools.
We don’t know if Perrotti responded to this frantic email. But we thought Sutton parents needed to know that when a taxpayer-funded staff member received criticism about an inappropriate drag queen performance (that was at least partially her responsibility), her instinct was not to take the feedback to heart and make a better decision in the future. It was to bring in an outside consultant to help double down and defend her agenda. What was she hoping for, exactly? That more rainbow stickers would entice Sutton parents to be okay with a drag queen showing his frilly bottom to minors? Maybe someone should ask her. Better yet, Sutton parents should go straight to Interim Superintendent Paget and make sure she knows that they don’t want Perrotti anywhere near their schools.
Student feedback on the drag queen’s session was mixed (even amongst those who attended ConCon).
Students who went to ConCon were given the opportunity to leave feedback on the sessions they attended. Our public records request revealed the student feedback for “Don’t Be a Drag, Just be a Queen!,” as collected by Motyl-Szary.
At first look, it appears to be all positive, at least from the student perspective. It also gives credence to the concerns of many parents: that introducing impressionable kids to a sanitized version of drag and pride will entice them to enter into a sexualized adult world that they do not understand. In a sane society, the comments in red would cost someone their job.
Grooming aside, what do we make of the glowing reviews?
It is not surprising to see such positive feedback, especially given that the group of students polled attended voluntarily and are already predisposed to viewing the presented material favorably. But couldn’t it also be so overwhelmingly positive because students have been bludgeoned into believing that saying anything contrary to the LGBTQ agenda is unkind? Kids who attend ConCon want to be good “allies,” so even if they were uncomfortable with the presentation, it is far more likely that they would answer disingenuously or not answer at all then it is that they would actually share their real feelings.
This survey only shows one side of the story, but we found a more well-rounded view in this article from the Sutton High News. The entire article is also available below, in case it mysteriously goes missing from the SPS website.
(Kudos to the student reporters at the Sutton High News, by the way. We think anyone wanting to understand this issue should read what they wrote. They really tried to be unbiased. Mainstream media could learn a thing or two from these young adults.)
According to this article, multiple students left the session, apparently due to discomfort with the presentation. At least one other was uncomfortable but remained in the session. We have to wonder, how many others felt the same?
This article also confirms some of the accusations levied early on when this story went viral - specifically that the drag queen did cartwheels, as well as that students were instructed to make their own “drag name.” In addition, it gives Sutton parents and school committee members a very, very interesting view into what Ted McCarthy believes qualifies as appropriate student dress. According to this report, McCarthy did not think that the drag queen’s outfit was a violation of the school dress code. He was also quick to point out that the school dress code “was written in conjunction with students (who took a lead in the process).”
Does any responsible adult actually think it would be okay for minors to show up at school dressed like the person in the picture below?
Of course not. And the fact that a highly paid administrator thinks that having allowed students to help write a dress code somehow justifies his acceptance of minors dressing like adult sexual performers at school speaks volumes about his educational philosophy as well as his lack of discernment.
One has to wonder… why pay an adult a six-figure salary when you could let the kids run the school for free?
NEASC was involved in ConCon planning, even more than we originally thought.
We learned through our PRR that NEASC staff were involved managing ConCon presenter proposals. They worked substantially with McCarthy and Motyl-Szary to help organize the proposals and maintain the information.
The fact that NEASC was more than a donor - that they were involved in key aspects of ConCon organization - is not surprising especially now that we see they were so quick to take the conference over. But at the time that this was happening, were Sutton residents aware that a powerful nonprofit with activist interests was so deeply involved in enabling a controversial conference in their little town? Probably not.
We also found it interesting that according to NEASC, on January 12th there were already 72 complete proposal submissions. The ConCon event in March ultimately hosted about 60 different breakout sessions. What other presenters did McCarthy and Motyl-Szary reject, in favor of two sessions of a dancing drag queen? Were any of these proposals declined on ideological terms? These are questions that Suttoners could ask. While ConCon is now NEASC’s responsibility, the mindset of the decision makers is still relevant since they still work for Sutton Public Schools.
Photos, photos, and more photos… and video.
Finally, one of the most important items we received from our public records requests were photos and videos from the conference itself. The vast majority of these we have elected not to publish because they contain images of minor students (a standard we maintain as a courtesy), and while they confirm the concerning aspects of ConCon, they provide little in terms of new information. However, the photos we have decided to publish can be seen in this post, as well as in the previous one.
But more importantly, we have the video of the actual performance.
We received this video in three separate segments, none of which contain sound. We assembled the three segments chronologically into one video and blurred out the students as much as possible. According to the district, the sound was not recorded due to a technical issue on one specific camera. While about 90% of the other video clips we received did have sound, several others unrelated to the drag performance also had a similar issue. Make of this what you will.
Without further ado, the Mean Girls mashup drag performance “heard” round the world (but not actually heard here, because of the most convenient camera malfunction ever).
If you’ve been tracking our Sutton investigations from the beginning, you know that the drag performance was not the only problematic element to ConCon. ConCon was replete with highly biased and politicized social justice ideology that has no place in a public school. But the performance above attracted the most attention. Now we can all see why.
Before we wrap up our time in Sutton, there are a few more loose ends to tie up.
After we published our last post, we discovered (thanks to some eagle-eyed members of the Massachusetts Informed Parents Facebook group!) that an elementary school had appeared on the list of schools that attended ConCon - specifically, King Elementary in Framingham. This was a shocking development given the content of the conference, as well as the fact that the conference has been touted to be for students in middle and high schools. We promised to look into this. And we did.
We submitted another public record request for the following:
From the response, we learned that King Elementary had indeed been registered to attend. They were registered on 12/11/23 by a staff member who is listed here as a Social Emotional Behavioral Coach at the school.
Then on 2/2/24, that same staff member informed Ted McCarthy that King Elementary would no longer be in attendance. No reason is given as to why they withdrew, but it appears they did NOT actually bring elementary kids to ConCon (which is good news).
Good news aside, one has to wonder why they were allowed to register in the first place. It is clear from the name of the school that the students would be very young. Why was their registration accepted? If a ConCon advisor reached out to inform them that the conference was not appropriate for little kids, there is no record of it here.
Side note to Framingham parents - especially those of you with a child at King Elementary - keep a close eye on your child’s school. King Elementary went viral a couple weeks ago for hosting a sexuality club for kids in grades K-5. You can read more about this club here. Clearly your school leaders are big on woke ideology. Parents need to stay eyes-wide-open.
The “King Elementary and ConCon” public records request also yielded some unexpected pieces of information, including the following email, sent to all of the contact people who had registered students from their school to attend ConCon 2024. Want to know if your child’s school was registered, and if so, who was the point person? Here’s your answer.
We also got an interesting peek into the first steps of ConCon’s journey out of Sutton and onto the campus of Clark University.
As we suspected, the changing climate in Sutton had indeed set off alarm bells, and McCarthy realized that ConCon might go the way of the dodo bird if it stayed in Sutton. On May 21st he sent out a bat signal of his own.
“Second - as you may have read in the Telegram & Gazette, the Conference itself and the social justice work we do here in our community has come under attack and there is a significant community push to end the conference. Unfortunately we may be in the position that if we can’t find a partner - this opportunity may come to an end for the students of New England.” McCarthy writes to the President of Clark University.
This is further evidence that community activism can work, even in Massachusetts.
You can read more of their exchange in this downloadable pdf. (Spoiler alert: the president is a big wokester himself, and was happy to help. Conservative parents of high school juniors and seniors looking at colleges… scratch Clark off your list.)
So, what is the status of ConCon now?
As of the time of writing this post, ConCon is scheduled for March 7, 2025, at Clark University. You can view the live website here or read the current details in the screenshots below. (We continue to obscure the faces of minors, but NEASC provided no such courtesy, as you will see if you view the live page. These photos are not available online. Did Ted McCarthy provide them? Does NEASC realize that since ConCon 2024 didn’t have a permission form, there’s no way he could know if he has parental permission to share their little faces?)
The organizers of ConCon 2025 have made a tactical decision to go with less controversial keynote speakers (although one could question the decision to trot out a young rapper whose music is laden with profanity as a role model), and the current website has no mentions of drag or sexuality. But as we know, the devil is almost always in the details (or in ConCon’s case, the breakout sessions). Will NEASC follow McCarthy and Motyl-Szary’s past practice of posting the whole agenda? Or knowing that the world is watching, will they conceal the list of breakout sessions? Time will tell.
Whether or not a drag queen shows up at ConCon 2025, the dynamic will be different this year. How it will be different remains to be seen. With ConCon’s political agenda and history of indiscretions exposed for the world to see, will schools and parents make the wise decision to steer clear? Or will having NEASC as the host lend a false sense of security, and lead to increased interest? Either way, the bottom line is that parents should not grant permission for their kids to attend ConCon, and school committees and administrators should not approve this as a field trip. If they do, parents should hold them accountable.
Our last public records request also provided further evidence of why parents need to watch out for woke school employees, like this “school adjustment counselor” from Burncoat Middle School in Worcester. She told Motyl-Szary that she “asked her (principal) to help (me) identify students to attend” ConCon last year. This is a good reminder that 99% of students outside of Sutton would probably have no idea what ConCon is if it wasn’t introduced to them by a guidance counselor, GSA advisor, or some other school employee. The interest in this conference is not organic. It’s coming from agenda-driven staff.
You can read that email in context in the pdf below.
What’s next for the good folks of Sutton?
In Sutton, progress has been made, but parents and school officials can’t let down their guard. The Connections Club still exists at Sutton High School, and the leaders of ConCon are still on their payroll. Not only that, Ted McCarthy is still the go-to guy for ConCon 2025, even as it is purportedly not connected with Sutton Public Schools.
The Workshop Proposal Form linked to the ConCon page on the NEASC website still has McCarthy as the contact person.
The “Send us an Email” button points folks to McCarthy as well.
As long as Ted McCarthy manages all of his ConCon work off-campus and not while he is at Sutton High School, or while he is being paid by Sutton taxpayers, his involvement with this is ultimately his call. He has a right to volunteer for NEASC on evenings and weekends. But Sutton administrators need to keep a close eye on whether or not that boundary is breached - by McCarthy, or by any other Connections advisor. ConCon is a massive timesuck, and it is highly unlikely that it won’t creep into the workday, unless strict rules are set. Working on a NEASC project while being paid by Sutton taxpayers would be a theft of time. Not one minute of SPS time should be taken up by working on this conference prior to March 7th. Not one. And not one staff member should be given special permission to be absent from work in order to attend on the day of the conference. Not one. If Sutton administration and the Sutton school committee are serious about wanting to distance themselves from ConCon, this is the line they must draw.
Until the ideology that started and perpetuated ConCon is eradicated from the Sutton Public Schools, Sutton parents (and the Sutton School Committee) should not rest easy. They should, however, take a moment to reflect on what they achieved so far. It’s too late to undo the fact that they were briefly known as the town that let a drag queen dance for students, but they are well on their way to being known as the town that stopped it from ever happening again. Even beyond that, they have inspired parents across MA to stand up against gender confusion and sexualized insanity in their own schools. Because of their sacrifice and their example, 2025 promises to be a year of change, in Sutton and beyond.
And that is truly something to celebrate.
Note: the truth is important to us, and we take great pains to present facts accurately. If you are from Sutton and you believe we have reported something factually incorrect in our ConCon coverage, please email us at massinformedparents@gmail.com with concrete evidence of your claim. We will review the information you provide and will update this article if necessary.
Did you know that the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center provides free, confidential legal advice? If you are a MA parent, school official, or school committee member - in Sutton, or elsewhere - who needs help navigating issues like the ones presented in this post, contact the MLLC today.
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