From Christine Wellington

Monroe

To the Editor:

I strongly support the School Board candidates Rich Deprez, Dylan McGuire and Eric Eckdhal. As a school board member for 16 years in the School District of Monroe, it seems to me that the recent letters in support of the “Children First” slate of candidates indicate a misunderstanding of the role of the school board member — or at least, the authors are not aware of the complexity of school issues. School board members are not elected to voice their own opinions or implement personal agendas. Their role is to consider all viewpoints and then make complicated and difficult decisions based on legal, curricular and financial issues that are often beyond their control. School board members spend hours behind the scenes, reading and understanding complicated information so that they can make informed decisions that are equitable, meet legal requirements, and are affordable. The work doesn’t stop there. Once those decisions are made, school board members must also partner with teachers and school administrators to implement them.

While parents should be partners in the educational process, and while children should ALWAYS be the focus of policy and decision making, school boards cannot function by acceding to every voice. Consequently, it is inevitable that some parents, staff, or community members may not be happy with a decision, even one that has been thoughtfully considered by the board and found to be in the collective interests of our children and community.

Slogans like “Children First” might make good yard signs and sound bites, but they do not define the difficult and complex work of governing schools in these challenging times. In observing the board decision-making process over the past two years, I have been impressed with how thoughtfully the current school board has addressed the sensitive and difficult issues they have faced. I believe that they have listened to the community with respect, have used state and local data and CDC guidelines to inform their decisions, and have done their best to meet the needs of children and staff during a constantly changing, difficult time in our schools. 

The candidates Deprez, McGuire and Eckdhal have demonstrated the positive attitude, experience and diligence to carry on the important work of the Monroe School district. Let’s give them our support on April 5.