EDITORIAL: Pledging support for our schools

OUR POSITION: We think it’s a great idea for a number of area groups to get together and work to support their schools and teachers and tone down the rhetoric at school board meetings.

Support public education.

That sounds like a simple slogan that anyone should be willing to embrace. And, in the big picture of things, we’re sure everyone is on board with supporting our schools.

But, in the past year or two, you have to question if that’s the case. We’re talking specifically about protests at school board meetings about mask mandates. Disagreements about whether schools should be having in-person classes or virtual learning. We even had the governor threatening to withhold salaries of school board members. And, there are other disagreements that have made being a teacher, school staff member or, especially, a school board member, a stressful job.

Someone noticed and decided all the outside noise does not benefit our students and sabotages our education system.

A group of 16 organizations in Sarasota and Manatee counties will begin a campaign today to show their unequivocal support for public education.

According to a press release, the organizations plan a 10 a.m. virtual press conference in hopes of addressing divisions and “vitriol that dominate local school board meetings.”

We like the idea so much, we would like to see it expanded to Charlotte and DeSoto counties.

Protect Our Public Schools (POPS) Manasota and Support Our Schools (SOS) initiated the campaign. David Wilkins of Manasota ASALH and Arlene Sweeting of the Peace Education and Action Center provided significant input, according to an email to news agencies.

Among the goals is to get organizations and individuals to take a pledge to stand up for public schools. Organizers in Manatee and Sarasota counties are asking people to take a pledge to:

• Stand up for high-quality equitable and inclusive education for all students.

• Stand up for a truth and evidenced-based curriculum that accurately portrays history and science.

• Stand up to keep school boards nonpartisan (oppose Florida legislative bills SJR 244 and HJR 35 which seek to make school board elections partisan).

• Stand up for well-funded public schools (including support for the March 8 Sarasota County School’s 1-millage continuation referendum).

To abide by such a pledge would be a wonderful first step toward assuring our schools are doing their best to educate students instead of dealing with all the outside distractions.

We especially would like to see groups make a joint effort to stop bills SJR 244 and HJR 35 because we don’t think school board elections should be partisan.

Juliette Scholles, a Sarasota parent and founder of Support Our Schools, said in the email “we are sick and tired of the hatred and vitriol we face at school board meetings and on social media. We want to tackle the real issues facing education in our communities and to do that we have to change the narrative away from that of vitriol to that of constructive input from the community.”

We think Scholles speaks for a great majority of parents and students.

Stand Up for Public Schools coalition plans to encourage members to attend and participate in local school board meetings. It has also set up an online site where area residents can become active in this coalition and/or take the pledge to support public schools, according to the press release.

Original Article here
Published 1/18/2022 in Port Charlotte Sun