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UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT AT HERBERG, BUT JUST ANOTHER TEAPOT TEMPEST

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BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY MAY 11, 2026) — When you place a magnifying glass over a postage stamp, you can make the stick-em as big as a cigarette pack. Put the stamp under an electron microscope, and you’d think you were looking at a picture of deep space from the Webb telescope.

Wanna do the same thing with a word, that is, make it disproportionately connotative? Then all you have to do is give it the “x-word” treatment. You can’t say the word. Rather, you evoke the word, which is worse. That’s when we end up with “the ‘n’ word,” “the ‘f’ word” and other “‘x’word” constructions, which, rather than cleanse the word actually gives it a superpower it otherwise wouldn’t have. With that come victims who melt if they hear the word.

We should always remember and teach that in and of themselves, words have no power to hurt except that which the reader or listener (hearer) allows.

Such a word construction lies at the heart of the latest teapot tempest afflicting the Bitchfield public school system.

———- ooo ———-

Brett Random, executive director of the local Head Start, claims her daughter heard a Herberg teacher, Rebecca Nitsche, “use extremely offensive language,” specifically “nigger” and “faggot.” No question that both are disgusting words.

Random is black, as is her daughter. Nitsche is white.

Random on Facebook said the situation was “rooted in racism.”

Random said she wants to provide an example to her daughter “to use her voice, to stand firm in what’s right, and to never shrink herself to make others comfortable. … real change does not come from silence or comfort. It comes from honesty, accountability, and a willingness to have difficult conversations … When educators model inappropriate or harmful behavior, it does more than create discomfort, it sets the standard.

THE PLANET takes Random at her word. As our readers have long known, we have “a willingness to have difficult conversations.”

So let’s have it.

———- ooo ———-

THE PLANET read the vague press accounts of the matter and heard from  a number of current and retired educators and office holders.

It’s difficult to say for sure what occurred in that classroom, principally because the school administration hasn’t been straightforward with the public on what happened. That said, here’s what we think occurred.

In the classroom a student used inappropriate language–“nigger” and “faggot.” The reprehensible words have one saving grace: they immediately identity the person who uses them as a bigoted jerk. Nitsche then used a land-line phone in the classroom to call school administration for assistance. The administrator asked the teacher her what the student said, and Nitsche responded. In other words, it appears that Nitsche was simply answering the administrator’s question and repeated the offending words.

Questions:

  • Who took Nitsche’s call and what did they advise? Was it:
    • Michael Taber, principal
    • Brian Dougherty, assistant principal
    • Martha Clark, assistant principal
    • Ryan Hood, Interim Dean of Student
  • Why has that person not issued a public statement?
  • Will there be litigation or other action taken?
  • What happened to the student who used the offending language? Were his parents notified? Was he disciplined?

———- ooo ———-

One veteran educator told THE PLANET Nitsche probably should have gone  into the hall to make the call: “The phone cord would reach. It’s common sense not to speak about discipline issues in front of other students.”  We agree, but what exactly was happening in the room? Our guess is that Nitsche remained in the room to help calm the situation.

The irony is how often young people themselves use the “n,” the “f,” and other “x” words. It’s also no secret that blacks regularly refer to each other as “nigga.” The word is everywhere in pop kulcher and social media and young people of all races have made it part of their routine lexicon.

Bottom line here is that while we laud a parent sticking up for her child and speaking out on matters of concern, we wonder how much identity politics factored into the reporting of this incident.

The incident, while unfortunate, has been overblown. Compared to the enormous challenges facing our deteriorating public schools, this one rates far down the list.

—————————————————————–

When headlines fan hysterics, the wise keep things in proper perspective” — Sir Donald Turpentine, Knight of the Bath.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

Copyright (c) 2026 By Dan Valenti, PLANET VALENTI and EUROPOLIS MANAGEMENT. All rights reserved. The views and opinions expressed in the comment section or in the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not necessarily endorsed by the operators of this website. PLANET VALENTI assumes no responsibility for such views and opinions, and it reserves the right to remove or edit any comment, including but not limited to those that violate the website’s Rules of Conduct and its editorial policies. Those who leave comments own all the responsibilities that are or can be attached to those comments, be they rhetorical, semantic, or legal. Such commentators remain solely responsible for what they post and shall be and remain solely accountable for their words. PLANET VALENTI shall not be held responsible for the consequences that may result from any posted comment or outside opinion or commentary as provided in, but not limited to, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and this website’s terms of service. We serve as a marketplace of ideas, without prejudice and available to all. All users of this site — including readers, commentators, contributors, or anyone else — hereby agree to these conditions by virtue of this notice and their use of/participation in this site. When PLANET VALENTI ends with the words “The Usual Disclaimer,” that phrase shall be understood to refer to the full text of this disclaimer.

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34 Comments
Tom Betit
Tom Betit
2 months ago

Planet explains it perfectly, faux outrage, by a race hustler, to wind up the useful idiots.

Demonrat election strategy 101..
Happens every even year…

Seeing the pattern yet?..

5/10)26@11:30pm

Tom

Jonathan A. Melle
Jonathan A. Melle
2 months ago

May 10, 2026

Hello blogger Dan Valenti,

What was that bad boy “B” word that Peter Marchetti allegedly called Victoria May when he was one of her managers at a Pittsfield bank years ago?

What is in the hidden legal report about the alleged Pittsfield school scandals?

What did the aforementioned legal report, NDA’s, and the like, cost the fictional Kapanski’s?

Do we remember way back in time about the PPD Walter Powell case whereby the N-word was allegedly used and he won $1 million suing the City of Pittsfield?

How is this new Pittsfield alleged scandal anything new in Pittsfield?

I wonder if it will be a distraction from Mayor Peter Marchetti’s fiscal year 2027 operating budget proposal of $232,782,090 that will be up for discussion next week on Tuesday, May 19th, 2026.

https://www.pittsfieldma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3346/Proposed-FY27-Budget?bidId=

Pittsfield’s operating budgets are always tens of millions of dollars per fiscal year MORE than its peer similarly sized small cities. Westfield’s is $180.2 million; Fitchburg’s is $192 million.

Why will Pittsfield spend over $52 million MORE than Westfield?

Why will Pittsfield spend over $40 million MORE than Fitchburg?

Earl and the 2-Pete’s Pittsfield politics pounds, pummels, pulverizes, punishes people’s purses.

https://www.pittsfieldma.gov/310/City-Budget

Pittsfield has the 2nd highest Commercial Tax Rate in Massachusetts; Holyoke is 1st.

Pittsfield’s Residential Tax Rate is excessively high, too, along with its fees.

This “MAY” (pun intended) be the distraction that the greedy and corrupt career politicians in my native hometown of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, need to pass their record-breaking municipal operating budget that will begin on July 01, 2026 through June 30, 2027.

Best wishes,

Jon Melle

Concerned taxpayer
Concerned taxpayer
2 months ago

The only thing the teacher did wrong that I can see is speak in front of the students let’s face it middle school is a beast these teachers have their work cut out for them

Sir Chaz
Sir Chaz
Reply to  Concerned taxpayer
2 months ago

Yes, and what else were the students saying/shouting that moved the teacher to call it in then and there?

The guts of the event are actually omitted in the reporting. Sounds sanitized leading me to question it could be a set up.

Zigmond Froider
Zigmond Froider
Reply to  Concerned taxpayer
2 months ago

And the backlash the poor woman is getting will not go unnoticed by other teachers and young men and woman thinking of getting into the education field in Pittsfield.

If Pittsfield was having a hard time getting teachers before this ridiculous overreaction, this will not make it any easier for sure. Who needs this shit? Who needs every pampered child’s mama jumping on them when their day is a living hell to start with?

Mad Trapper
Mad Trapper
2 months ago

Seems the sochol administration is punishing the person who delivered the message, they did not want to hear, for being a White Male.

Nitsche should lawyer up and file a multi-million defamation lawsuit against the sochol. That is all they will understand.

Mad Trapper
Mad Trapper
Reply to  Mad Trapper
2 months ago

Whoops, WHITE Female.

Sir Chaz
Sir Chaz
2 months ago

Sounds like the teacher was set up. The kids played her.

Ever read Updikes Centaur? He describes the similar thing, though the parent/ child interface is something else.

Last edited 2 months ago by Sir Chaz
Jonathan A. Melle
Jonathan A. Melle
Reply to  Sir Chaz
2 months ago

There will be a Pittsfield community conversation about the incident(s) of offensive use of words this Monday evening, 05/11/2026.

https://www.iberkshires.com/story/82598/Use-of-Slurs-Sparks-Community-Conversation-in-Pittsfield-.html

It is interesting to me that the Superintendent said that there are private procedures to handle school incidents, but there will be a public forum to discuss it this Monday evening, May 11, 2026.

It is IRONIC that the Superintendent spoke of community trust while the Pittsfield Mayor/Chair Peter Marchetti and School Committee still have NOT released the hidden legal school report to the general public.

This controversy is currently playing out on social media whereby Pittsfield residents are writing their mostly negative views about the Pittsfield schools and City Hall.

Sir Chaz
Sir Chaz
Reply to  danvalenti
2 months ago

Professional protesters. They were trained in college to protest on command.

Sir Chaz
Sir Chaz
Reply to  Sir Chaz
2 months ago

At Williams College, students can seize a building, have a 40’x10′ full color banner printed by the college in house PR facility hanging from the Tech Center and a crowd amassed all within 5 hours of an incendiary note alleged to be found in a professor’s home mailbox.

The college reward for a successful protest project is the forwarding of a punitive Demand List to the Board of Trustees that must increase the teaching personnel and new budgets and must also include antagonizing Jewish students; a fattening of the protest organization’s budget; and expanding majors to rhythmic humming and categorization of graphic novels just published.

Last edited 2 months ago by Sir Chaz
Oh No You Didn't
Oh No You Didn't
Reply to  danvalenti
2 months ago

Will someone want reparations for the Trama? Was it that bad?

It's Just Awful I Tell Ya
It's Just Awful I Tell Ya
Reply to  Oh No You Didn't
2 months ago

Every kid in that class should lawyer up and get paid. That had to be a horrible experience for any child to go through and I hope the superintendent is going to provide counseling, apologies and an appropriate amount of money to make the psychological boo boo go away.

ShirleyKnutz
ShirleyKnutz
Reply to  Sir Chaz
2 months ago

Wonder what grades the teacher gave the whistleblower all year

Sigmond Froider
Sigmond Froider
Reply to  ShirleyKnutz
2 months ago

Wonder how the whistleblower will like the substitute teacher. The one whose hands are shaking and will be walking on eggs and looking over her shoulder every second,

Bratt Random
Bratt Random
2 months ago

This is why the YT’s are going to Lenox, Lanesborough/Williamstown, etc.

When they make things “equitable,” they are going to level the playing field like a bucket of crabs.

Mad Trapper
Mad Trapper
Reply to  Bratt Random
2 months ago

Lenox schools are not what they used to be, they’ve went “woke” too.

It’s just that the students get an education along with the indoctrination.

tt269
tt269
Reply to  Bratt Random
2 months ago

Equitable your full of crap. These kids of all ages walk around dropping the N Bomb all day. I wouldn’t be surprised if your daughter and her friends do. You are just another fake that is DEI and have no business being in the position you are in or on the board of directors of Greylock. Probably just to shovel money to BLM and others here in the city. You push the race baiting like the others. If the teacher was making an honest phone call to report this what is the problem. She did not crawl into the hall to do it. Probably was afraid the thugs would bully and destroy the room. Fake B S

Markus Aurelius
Markus Aurelius
2 months ago

I believe this is a move by the GOBSIG’s to try and distract from the PHS Scohol skandel report.

If Queen Latifah and the Scohol Bored fire Rebecca, the taxpayers of Bitchfield better be prepared to write another HUGE check.

I’d depose every administrator and teacher under oath, and ask how often students of color say the “n…a” that goes unpunished? How many students of color have been punished for using that word?

Remember too, that pesky, tax payer paid for scohol report is also fair game. It shows sketch e punishment.

Show your pu$$y pic to kids of color. Nothing to see here move along.

A student of color hears a white woman reporting what she heard, which happens to be the “n-word,” whoa. Public hearings. Safe spaces, Continue to allow POC to get away with anything.

What ever happened to sticks and stones? Are black bones that brittle?

tt269
tt269
Reply to  Markus Aurelius
2 months ago

DEI Queen what else to expect here in the pitts

ShirleyKnutz
ShirleyKnutz
2 months ago

Was this an unfortunate incident or a new way the NAACP uses to make themselves relevant? You may say I am truly knutz but listen to this similar tail that happened to an acquaintance of mine when they were on a business trip in Denver.
The business group was picked up by a van shuttle and the driver was playing completely inappropriate rap, with the N word, C word, talking about murder and rape. When my acquaintance asked the driver to turn the station or turn it off because it was offending some in the crowd the driver ignored the request.
When the shuttle got to the hotel a fellow passenger who was a black female asked why my acquaintance didn’t tip. The reply was they didn’t earn it. The black female persisted and asked again, the response was a report will be filed with the hotel and business because this was not a vendor that should be used. The black female then asked why, The reply was the music was not appropriate. Again the bf persisted, the reply was the music had the N word C word and talked of murder and rape. The bf continued to say what N word and C word so they told her what they stood for, The black female then reported my acquaintance to Human Resources for saying these words.
You may say this is a coincidence but 2 similar stories from 2 different far away locations makes me feel like it’s a new tactic, If you don’t agree I would say who is reALLY NUTS.
BtW I hope someone does a deep dive on if the Herberg Administration had ignored this teachers cries for help with the behaviors of the students all year.
While they are at it I hear an investigation of Headstart should be started as well

Buffoonizashunned
Buffoonizashunned
Reply to  ShirleyKnutz
2 months ago

As the Planet does. Shirley you always bring it.

Merry & Bright
Merry & Bright
2 months ago

If this so-called “incident” happened at Herberg, why is Queen Latifah and Mayor Lumpy holding the meeting at Conte? Makes no sense at all.

A quote from “Alice in Wonderland” seems to apply to EVERYTHING Mayor Lumpy’s Administration does in Pittsfield. The quote is “It would be so nice if something would MAKE SENSE for a change”.

Zigmond Froider
Zigmond Froider
Reply to  danvalenti
2 months ago

Perhaps the pot stirrer should get up and speak first. Cuz that is what initiated this tempest in a teapot. She needs to be highlighted since none of this would have gotten so magnified without her.

Ghost of Pearl Bergoff
Ghost of Pearl Bergoff
Reply to  Merry & Bright
2 months ago

because Conte is in what they consider YT territory. They wanna round up the zoo

Last edited 2 months ago by Ghost of Pearl Bergoff
Tom Betit
Tom Betit
2 months ago

The Planet’s 5/21/25 article about Queen Latifa , omitted reason for termination.

Latifa and her posse, abused Native American students, when they objected to indoctrination,

Latifa covered up teacher bashing, a student with a book, and using slurs against the patriotic students. As I explained in Planets comments pertaining to 5/21/25 article, Dan censored/ delayed, until after his next article.
Why the delay?

DOJ and DOE already have files , on Latifa, Autopen and AG Garland- dropped the prosecution, just like Trial court judge who obstructed ICE from deporting an illegal alien.

Seeing the pattern yet? Protected political predator elitists -Kennedy/LBJ 101…

This hoax started in the governor’s office, or higher . Moran Healey, called in Queen Latifas marker, for giving her position as stupidintendent.

Demonrats manufacturing RACISM, is as dependable as the sun rising.

This hoax is just a continuation of conspiracy begun by LBJ, to stoke outrage and division.
SPLC is just the first , of many fraudulent Race hustling Demonrat institutions, to be prosecuted.

Odds teachers union , the Queen, and SPLC had communications?

5/12/26@5:00am

Tom

Sara Thustra
Sara Thustra
2 months ago

I support Nitsche.

Sir Chaz
Sir Chaz
2 months ago

The Salem Witch Trial era resembled what is happening here and elsewhere. Sycophants accused others of witchcraft which initiated the arrest and possession of the accused. The accused were required to confess and pay some form of penalty. That era culminated when a sycophant accused a popular middle aged pastor of witchcraft. He was known as a kind man, and he refused to confess and instead denied the charges. They hanged him in public.

That murder outraged those beyond, and ultimately the trials ended almost as furiously as they began with the discrediting of the process of identifying witches. One gentleman interviewed the imprisoned, identified even those who thought they were witches. He concluded his report that despite even some with fervant belief of being sorcerors, none met the standard of empirical proof of being a witch vs deluded.

Ending this era and its atrocities shall require empirical arguments that reassure the righteous and shame the sycophants and their sponsors. It could end as fast as it began.

Last edited 2 months ago by Sir Chaz
Optimus Prime
Optimus Prime
1 month ago

A little long, but for those who can’t get the article:

TOP STORY
Pittsfield Public Schools
Pittsfield school officials hear parents describe racial insults, slurs among students

PITTSFIELD — The phrase was heard over and over again at Conte Community School on Monday night: The city schools need to “rip off the Band-Aid” and address racist and discriminatory language in its schools. 
Parents, guardians, current and former teachers and former students said students have heard and continue to hear bullying and demeaning words from each other, and in some cases, from teachers.
“It’s not OK that kids normalize this language,” said Patricia Molina, a parent and therapist.

Others said children as young as elementary school are using the N-word, saying they hear it on the internet or in music, or from their peers. And several said they don’t feel their kids are safe in the schools. 

“They’re whipping out the N-word … they don’t even know what it means,” said Delores Moore, a former Conte Community School teacher. 
The meeting, called in the wake of a Herberg Middle School teacher being accused of repeating racist and homophobic epithets used by a student, revealed both general observations on the climate of tolerance and respect in city schools as well as more specific allegations of city educators speaking inappropriately. 

Interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips emphasized that the meeting is just a start of a larger community conversation on bullying, tolerance and respect in the city schools. 
“We heard the importance of a home-school partnership, of community partnership,” she said. “It was heavy, but it’s important.”
That said: “It’s really important that the public schools is seen as as stepping into this challenge, rather than trying to trying to address things swiftly and move on.”

The easy thing, Phillips told the roughly 60 people gathered in the school cafeteria, would be to “stay at the surface and try to look really good.” Meanwhile, schools that address negative behaviors can look worse because they’re actively documenting problems and dealing with their problems.
“I think that’s what I want to encourage us as a system. Let’s be open. Let’s receive the experiences from our families, from our students, and let’s be vulnerable,” she said. “And this is easier said than done.”
Faculty and principals from every city school were present, as well as the entire cabinet and School Committee members Sarah Muil and Carolyn Barry. Shirley Edgerton spoke on behalf of the Berkshire NAACP, which provided a meal for attendees, and Tony Jackson, the president of Westside Legends, spoke by online conferencing.

The meeting was moderated by Leticia Smith-Evans Haynes, the vice president for institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion at Williams College.

Johanna Linski, a special education surrogate parent and advocate for vulnerable children, said a teacher at Herberg insulted and deliberately misgendered a Black transgender girl in her care. She said the same teacher spent 20 minutes during an IEP meeting attacking the character of another child in her care, a ward of the state Department of Children and Families.
Molina said she had a discussion with four city school students who said their peers make fun of students of other skin colors and from other cultures “all day every day.” She said one Hispanic girl was called a “fake Mexican” because she doesn’t speak Spanish.

She also said her own son, several years ago, was told by a faculty member at Herberg that “he fit the profile of a criminal and he wasn’t getting anywhere.” The result of the complaint she filed with the then-superintendent, she said, was that her son was transferred to Reid Middle School.
“The consensus between the four kids was that the adults still don’t understand what bullying is anymore,” she said.
“Kids are now thinking that, ‘Oh, they’re joking, it’s not that serious,’ but it is serious, and I have to have a real conversation with them, that this was racism,” Molina said. “But because the schools are minimizing these behaviors, these kids are starting to feel that that’s OK. That when somebody calls you a dirty Mexican, or when somebody calls them an African, or when somebody makes fun of their skin because they’re not dark enough or light enough, these kids are beginning to accept that as true, because adults aren’t taking this seriously.”

Janae Holloway, a teacher at Pittsfield High, said her BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) student group has spent the year having “a lot of difficult conversations” about racism they see, hear and experience, including within their communities. “We have to have that hard discussion, and we talk about how we can fix it,” she said.
“I’m learning how to be a better student, a better teacher for them, but I also learn how to be a better Black person in my community,” she said. “We’re trying our best. Change takes time. I don’t see every student, but I can tell you that I have not had lunch alone or with adults since I started working at PHS.”
Roos Bajnath, a Pittsfield High graduate who just completed her freshman year at Howard University, said that while she was a PHS student she endured microaggressions such as “you’re really pretty for a Black girl.”

“I watched people get hit in school bathrooms,” she said, adding that she started using the bathroom in the nurse’s office or waited to get home because she didn’t feel safe.
“I would have kids my own color call me the N word, and I’m like, ‘Why are you doing that?’” she said.
Community activist Kamaar Taliaferro said the problems reflect the way the community has treated its school system, and compared the way the city has funded its police to the way it has funded its schools as an example of where the city has placed its priorities.
“It doesn’t surprise me to hear that students are treating each other the same way that we treat their future, and it isn’t all on the school system to change,” he said.
Of his own experience in the city schools, Taliaferro said, “You have to put up with a lot of bull—- and
you have to let it roll off your back.”