08/10/2023 BOE Agenda: John’s Notes

A new Assistant Superintendent is on the agenda tomorrow night for approval, and it is essential to note that this vote comes on the heels of a secretive process with little to no community input.

One concern I have about the new Assistant is his recommendation in another township that the BOE ban Town Council members from schools because they disagree with him on issues connected the current debates surrounding schools and sex education.

The link to the article below mainly appeals to a biased mindset I don’t entirely agree with and whose narrative, I feel, feeds into the problem. However, parents and residents should watch the video at the bottom of the article, be attentive to how the new Assistant describes what the Town Council member said, and compare that to the actual content of the Town Council Members’ remarks. The Town Council Member is expressing a position millions of Americans hold and, I’m sure, millions disagree with. It is not a radical position deserving of censure.

Our community will not come to a cohesive and practical approach to inclusive sex education, school environment, or any issues people hold strong opposing viewpoints on with leadership that is comfortable in punishing the reasonable expression of thoughts and opinions using bans.

While I am sure the incoming Assistant Superintendent and I can find much to agree on, the approach reflected in the video within our District would personally be a deal breaker. Using one’s power as a government official to ban people from a public place based on what they’ve said is something both sides of the political aisle would have rallied against not so long ago.

Unfortunately, the loudest voices on the right and left in this country have placed their ideologies above the fundamental freedoms that allow them to express the very tenets of those ideologies – endangering freedoms we have all enjoyed and that many have perished defending.

One of our most cherished freedoms involves expressing a position without consequence from government bodies. This freedom benefits ALL perspectives and ALL Ideologies. The rights you take away from someone you disagree with today can be turned against you in the future for the very same reason – “I don’t like what you are saying.”

I sincerely hope our incoming Assistant Superintendent has reconsidered his approach to differing opinions and moves forward in his position in a manner that seeks to listen and balance.

Link to Video (Scroll Down Article)

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