PROUD Academy to open in Ansonia

The doors will soon open at PROUD Academy in Ansonia. The LGBTQ+ middle school will operate out of The Boys and Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley.

“It gives us a start, it is turn key, ready to go,” PROUD Academy Founder Patty Nicolari said.

Nicolari has about 40 years of teaching under her belt. When she first became an educator in the 1980s, she faced hardships because of her sexuality.

“I was in a relationship with a woman, and I wasn’t telling anybody but the students were suspecting I was gay, so I was harassed,” Nicolari said. “So, it got me thinking, it’s uncomfortable for me as a teacher, I can’t imagine what it’s like for a student.”

Nicolari is now launching the educational space she wishes she had, where students and teachers can feel safe, respected, and empowered.

“No one should go to school feeling scared,” parent Tiffanie Wong said.

Wong is a prospective parent - her seventh grader Maddie has missed several days of public school this year because of bullying. Wong believes the inclusive environment PROUD Academy is offering would make a world of difference in Maddie’s middle school experience.

“Having a school where everybody either looks like them, or understands what they are going through, I think it could change everything,” Wong said. “To a seventh grader, is there anything better than not feeling like they are being judged all the time, that’s a really exciting thing.”

Prospective music teacher Doug Perry shares the same sentiment. When Perry was a teenager in school and unsure about his sexual identity, he received many negative remarks.

“If I could make it a little less difficult for a young person out there, just because they know their music teacher is a little more like them, more than any other music teacher they’ve had before, that is really important to me,” Perry said. 

PROUD Academy funded by donors and grants will serve seventh and eighth grade students. The curriculum will include core classes, as well as a course in LGBTQ+ history.

“We are the first in the state to have purchased the LGBTQ curriculum called History UnErased by Deb Fowler,” Nicolari said.

To start the school year, PROUD Academy needs 20 students to be financially committed. Tuition is about $20,000, but the private school hopes to receive more donations to off-set the cost for families.

“We have to believe there is somebody out there who will say ‘I want to give $500,000 to start the inaugural class of PROUD Academy. Here’s a check patty.’ That’s what I’m manifesting.” Nicolari said.

As the first LGBTQ+ school in Connecticut and New England, educators hope PROUD Academy will be a model for the future.

“Maybe this is the pebble that starts the avalanche, maybe this is the thing that is the turning point in changing people's minds,” prospective science teacher Evelyn Kubik said. “It's about the legacy we leave behind and what world we want to have available to the next generation.”

For more information about PROUD Academy, click here.