Below is a recent Letter to the Editor of the Leavenworth Times. We think it captures the fondness we all feel for our public schools and educators. It also demonstrates the concerning behavior we see in board members. With permission, we share this letter to help explain one of the reasons we felt the need to create this group.
Reading, writing and arithmetic alone do not a school make. For hundreds of years, schools have not only been centers of learning, but also centers of our communities. Places where family and friends gather for spaghetti dinners, autumn carnivals and football games. Schools are places where science experiments take place and where students, teachers and families find and create community. Schools in our community and every community across this nation are and have been safe havens for children for generations. There are many reasons for this. Think about the kid who is bullied by his peers because his pants are too short, or the girl who never seems to have anything to eat for lunch, or the sullen kid who never talks to anyone. Teachers often see and react to the needs of these children because they are with these kids every single day. Kids learn to trust adults who listen to them. Teachers are often those adults. Thus, schools become safe spaces for all different kinds of children, with all different kinds of problems and needs.
I am the parent of four children. Two who have moved on from Lansing schools, and two who are currently attending. My children have struggled and thrived in this district. When they have struggled, teachers have buoyed them up. When they have thrived, teachers have cheered and celebrated them. Lansing USD 469 has long been a community of promise and pride. Unfortunately, because of the political agenda of some of our current board members, the same teachers who have buoyed and celebrated my children are now leaving the Lansing school district. There is a current Lansing USD 469 board member who states that they “might not always agree with comments made, but I will always protect a taxpayer’s/parent’s right to speak.” This same board member voted against the unanimous recommendation of an entire review board and removed senior-level curriculum via a curriculum challenge made by one parent. The “majority vote” this board member points to was 4-3. And there were more than a few community members and students who opposed the decision. The words and actions of this board member do not match up and they do not support all parents in our community, only those who agree with this board member’s personal political ideologies. While it may seem benevolent for the Lansing school board to allow community members to speak at school board meetings, it doesn’t seem that many of those voices are being heard or listened to at all.
To the board members and educators who have listened to and been there for all four of my children and countless other children throughout their school careers — thank you. You are truly appreciated and deserve to be treated better by the people who claim that the current climate their policies and actions have created are somehow meant to support you.
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