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Dear Editor:
If you promised the community you would be transparent with your actions and uphold academic excellence, would you follow through on those promises?
I am writing to address the letter submitted by HSE board member Suzanne Thomas that was printed on July 28, 2023.
A board member with “overwhelming support” from their community does not need to write a letter to the editor seeking support for handbook changes they have forced through in multiple meetings this year. These changes have NOT had the support of the majority of teachers and parents who have attended and given public comment during these board meetings. In fact, the majority of public comments were in support of our teachers, administration, and following the policies and procedures that were in place long before this board took their seats.
Dawn Lang, school board president, was quoted in a recent news interview that they were unaware of surveys given to the teachers, students, and parents asking for input on what issues they have noticed or felt needed to be addressed in the handbook for the 2023-2024 school year.
However, in the March 15 Board work session, the administration presented the timeline for stakeholder input (meetings, surveys, etc.), which can be seen in attachments on the school board’s BoardDocs website (found at this link).
A week later, at the board meeting on March 22, the administration respectfully requested the school board follow their timeline and policies, but the board chose to ignore the administration, teachers’ union, and community and forced their vote through to remove microaggressions from the handbook. (Watch at this link.)
The HSE administration, HSEA President and Vice President, and countless parents have requested this board listen to our educators, stop micromanaging all aspects of the district, and learn what the statutory responsibilities of their jobs are before making major changes at board meetings. Instead, the excuse of not fully understanding their job has been used while still voting against the administration and teachers.
Another extremely unpopular change of policy came up when the board refused to renew the contracts for five of the top administrators in our district, which has created anxiety among the community and within the schools about plans currently being made behind the scenes regarding our DEI Director Dr. Nataki Pettigrew. Yet HSE’s administration continues to show up, cater to this board’s demands, and perform superior work for the students.
This week, a special meeting was scheduled on at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 30 to address HSE’s representative on the Hamilton East Public Library board. It seems some of HSE’s board wants to remove Andre Miksha (who served for years under an elected Republican Prosecutor as his Chief Deputy, served in the military, and is married to an HSE teacher) two years before his term is finished because he was appointed by HSE’s previous board president and he will not fall in line with the extreme changes some of the library board want to force through.
With a referendum renewal coming in November, one would think our board would be focused on reaching out to the community for support and building positive relationships instead of playing politics and alienating it further.
There is NOT overwhelming support for the private, behind-the-scenes agendas being forced through by a majority of this Board. In fact, most HSE parents love our school district and do not want to hurt, frustrate, or lose the very people we NEED to continue the high-quality education that leads to the academic greatness for which our district is known.
Community members can access past meetings on the BoardDocs website (hseschools.org/board/live-board-meetings) to hear public comments themselves. March 22, July 15, and July 26, 2023, are meetings regarding the handbook changes.
My concern is five of the board members have shown, since taking their seats, that they are not sticking to their campaign slogans. Academic excellence is not attained by overly ambitious adults making changes and rules they do not understand the significance of. It is earned IN THE CLASSROOM, with the teachers and students who learn and work within the walls 180 or more days a year. Currently, it feels like the suggestions and direction this board is going is not building our district up, but rather causing employee and student anxiety, distrust in the system, and an unnecessary and unwanted negative spotlight on our schools. This is not what HSE students need right now; they need the community to come together to pass a referendum renewal that keeps class sizes reasonable, educational extracurriculars thriving, and adds safety for our schools.
To broadly say the school board is functioning in a negative way is not true. Two members, Sarah Donsbach and Sarah Parks-Reese, are conscientious board members who truly care about our community and the educators at HSE. They have voted against the policies the other five board members discuss and create outside of public view. They voted against policies that our teachers, administration, and parents of HSE students do not support. They voted against micromanaging a district that is NOT failing, but instead is creating a loving, supportive, and inclusive environment where students are achieving academic greatness because of the students, educators, and administration INSIDE our schools.
I understand I will not always agree with how our school board functions. They cannot please everyone with every decision they make. However, when it is apparent they are disregarding the voices of the students, educators, and a majority of the parents attending their meetings and emailing them, I feel there is a need to stand up and call for attention.
This board was voted in because lies were being spread in our community about our schools having failing academics and questioning our budget. However, those of us who attend the meetings have witnessed this board learn the truth since taking their seats. Meeting after meeting, they are educated on the REAL academic opportunities and greatness this district creates and maintains.
Katy Dowling, HSE CFO, has broken down accounts and budgets and explained how and why the district operates as it does. She routinely shares hard copies of numbers with the public and explains accounting terms in ways that everyone can understand. If the board would like a better understanding of transparency, they can look to Katy.
HSE was thriving academically before this board took their seats, and despite efforts by some, it will still be thriving when they are no longer there. We, the MAJORITY of students, parents, and community members of HSE, LOVE and support our educators. We appreciate their efforts in the classroom, and we respect their voices and their desire to be HEARD when changes are made within the walls of our schools.
We love them for loving our kids, and at the end of the day … THAT is where academic excellence is going to come from, and THAT’s HSE. #BetterTogetherHSE
Stephanie Hunt
Fishers