Official says father's view on gays didn't spark fight

Lexington's school superintendent yesterday denied assertions that a first-grader was beaten up on a playground last month in retaliation for his father's campaign to stop the school from teaching his son about homosexuality.

School officials, citing interviews with the children involved, said the fight actually started over where students would sit in the cafeteria and then spilled onto the playground. The student, the 7-year-old son of David Parker , who filed a federal lawsuit in April over the teaching of homosexuality in school, was punched several times during the May 17 fight.

``These were two first-graders having a child squabble on a playground," said Superintendent Paul Ash . ``Some adults are exploiting these children for political purposes."

The playground fight ballooned into a School Department inquiry after a Waltham-based parents' group, MassResistance, alleged that a group of children pounced on the boy on the two-year anniversary of the legalization of gay marriage.

According to school officials' investigation, one child hit Parker's son two to four times during recess, and the boy fell to his knees as about five students watched . A teacher's aide intervened. The child who hit Parker's son was sent to the assistant principal's office, where he wrote an apology and was denied recess for two days. Parker's son and the boy have since had a play date, Ash said.

School officials contacted authorities, who declined to investigate, Ash said.

Parker said he was unconvinced that the fight had nothing to do with the outcry. He said other students have talked to his son about the issue.

Parker was arrested last year when he refused to leave Estabrook Elementary School without a guarantee that his child would not be exposed to teachings about homosexuality. In April, he filed a federal lawsuit over the issue.

Parker said he never filed a police report and doesn't want children to be investigated. ``We don't want to vilify the children," Parker said. ``We do want to get along, even though there's very powerful differences in beliefs."

Brian Camenker , president of MassResistance, said he still believes Parker's son was beaten up because of his father's views. ``The kids have been incited on this," he said. ``There's a lot of anger."