Last week:

• A locally produced podcast released their first episode about our school district
• The big news was that sixth grade would be moved from the Middle School back down to the three elementary schools to make more room for Merit. There were no discussions in board meetings about this, no discussions with teachers or the principals, and no details have been worked out yet.
  • Tuesday 2/28 – the staff was informed of this decision
  • Wednesday 3/1 – around two dozen Middle School staff called in sick in protest (link1, link2). Concerned community members put out a call for protestors to show up Thursday to show our support for staff.
  • Thursday 3/2 – close to one hundred community members lined the sidewalks outside the Middle School to show their support for the staff and to call for the resignation of Ken Witt.
    • This protest drew a lot of media attention: link1, link2, link3, link4, link5
    • A Middle School educator was fired in apparent retaliation for the teacher protests and as a warning to staff.
• A book-club style meeting was held at the public library to discuss the book banned from the high school classrooms, as well as discuss the larger question of book banning in general.
• We made public the details of Ken Witt’s contract with the district, including the fact he has a similar contract with nearby ERBOCES (being paid for two full-time jobs).
• Many schools across the country celebrated Public Schools Week. We did not.
• We posted some information about Social Emotional Learning (SEL). It’s on the chopping block for next school year.
• Witt met with staff at four of the five schools this week (he meets with the High School Monday). One staff member summed up the meeting best by saying, “Staff left crying, furious, unheard.”

Here’s what’s coming up this week:

• Witt meets with the high school staff on Monday
• Wednesday 3/8 is a regular school board meeting, 6:00 in the district offices conference room.
  • The board will finalize their change to policy GP-5 to narrow the focus of the board to educational interests only. Witt explained to teachers this week that their focus is on academic performance.
  • The board will do a first reading of proposed changes to GP-9, the policy that deals with changing or developing policy.
  • The board will discuss redistricting. It’s not clear why; note that this is an election year.
  • An executive session is scheduled to discuss security arrangements. While that might sound serious, an email we obtained via CORA suggests it’s likely about routine security arrangements in the schools, which by their nature might be more effective if details are not widely known.