To the editor:

As a past Suffolk PTA Council president, I must say I find that the Suffolk PTA Council’s choice of the KAOSS Entertainment step program for the entertainment at its annual dinner meeting last Thursday (“PTA hosts controversial show,” June 2, 2015) was very disturbing — or maybe a better word for it would be “appalling.”

The PTA — and the PTA Council in particular — should never connect themselves with politics or any type of agenda that is not promoting the bond among parents, teachers and students.

This was not the place for that type of political content, and since it is common knowledge that some of the content presented was proven to be a lie by the U.S. Justice Department, now the Suffolk PTA Council is seen as promoting that lie. This does not say much for their credibility when they allowed this content to be presented.

During my time as a PTA president in elementary, middle and high schools in Suffolk, to include Council President and a position as an officer at the Tidewater District level, I always kept one thing in mind: It’s about the children and young adults attending our schools. We want them to have the best possible opportunities to reach goals that will make them successful during and after they leave school.

We should be working together with a common goal in mind. These occasions at the end of the year, such as the annual dinner meeting, are when we should be presenting programs in which Suffolk students can show off their talents and what they have learned during the course of the year. These meetings are also for setting next year’s goals to help increase support for our schools so they can achieve even more than the year before.

I am disappointed in this straying from the course of the Suffolk PTA Council and would hope that others who read this would keep it in mind as they make decisions in the future. What are we promoting, and is it going to benefit the children and young adults in Suffolk Public Schools, now and in the future?

We must stay true to the principles of the PTA. There are other venues for other agendas. A poor choice was made here, and we should learn from it.

Alvin W. Anderson Jr.

Suffolk