It only took the newly elected school board about 15 minutes to hear frustrations from teachers and parents alike in their first meeting on Tuesday (Dec 13th).
A decision was made to hear from the floor at the start of the meeting as opposed to the end, which opened the door for some pent-up grievances that were not able to be aired before the board for months.
First, a letter was read by an anonymous Education Assistant (EA).
“By the end of last year, I was pretty determined that I was done as a teacher, even though I had worked so hard, so long,” the letter stated.
“I felt disrespected and unseen by those in charge.”
The main points of the letter were focused around staffing shortages within the district.
As an EA, the writer was being pulled into classrooms as a substitute teacher far too often to be able to perform their duties adequately, which they say contributed to a breakdown between them and their students, as well as coworkers.
“Last year was very, very difficult,” they wrote. “It had a negative effect on most of our vulnerable learners. It broke my heart.”
The EA said they are continuing to work this year, but these issues are persisting through the first half.
The second person to speak was a parent, Josh Silva.
He discussed the ongoing bussing situation where remote communities have been left without a bus service they have come to rely on, bullying, student / teacher abuse, and phycological issues in students.
“It is very easy to see that our education system is not doing a whole lot… it breaks my heart when I hear some of the long time contributors to this talk about it like everything is beautiful and going just great.”
Silva accused the district’s system of being full of “yes men,” and said that parents who have not been holding the district accountable shoulder some of that blame.
“All of these problems are unacceptable in our public education system,” he said. “More and more children are homeschooling, I believe that is probably the best move right now, but I can’t help but think about all the other children stuck in this and suffering.”
He also talked about wanting the best for the new board, and that he hopes to see meaningful change after the election.
Aside from being sworn in, this was the first meeting of the school board that was elected on October 15th.
The school board meets monthly, typically on the last Tuesday of the month.
Their next meeting will be January 31st.
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