The Appleton Area School District Board of Education received quite a number of emails intended for public comment at the 02/22/2021 Board of Education meeting. 34 separate individuals contacted them which is slightly more than double the 15 people who contacted them for the 02/08/2021 meeting. Board President Kay Eggert changed the way she had been presenting public comment. All communications have been and continue to be distributed to all the Board members, and Kay assured the public that the Board does review them. In previous meetings, she had provided a very high level summary of the themes in the various emails the Board had received. At this meeting, however, Kay went through, named the person who sent the email, and tried to briefly summarize as objectively as possible the intent of their communication.
I was unsure of the spelling for a lot of the names, so rather than butcher people’s names, or inconsistently list some individuals by name and not others, I’ll just used numbers for everyone except for Sheri Hartzheim who does warrant specific recognition because she is running in the April 6 election for a place on the school board as well as for the District 13 aldermanic position.
1. They received 4 separate emails from a single individual. (1) Please elaborate on how to address the increased rates of failing and incomplete grades. (2) The sports season went smoothly for the most part; get kids back in school full time using the same criteria. (3) What are the plans for in person board meetings? (4) When will students return to in-person 5 days a week?
2. Please consider highschool 4 days a week.
3. Will there be teacher layoffs due to the decline in enrollment this year?
4. This person was surprised by the lack of agility in leadership now that 6 foot distance is no longer a requirement for mitigation. Figure out how to get kids back in school.
5. The initial experiment of in person learning for younger children has gone well. Now bring the older students back. Also, when making decisions, view the decisions through the lens of established Board goals.
6. When will all kids be back full time? When will parents have a voice at open session? Figure out how to get the kids back.
7. Don’t rename a school. Place a plaque. Get all children back. Stop using kids as political pawns.
8. Open the doors fully now. March 1 is a good date for all to be back.
9. What is the date for all children, all grades, 5 days?
10. Bring all students back full time.
11. Signs support returning to school 5 days, all grades.
12. Get all children back full time. Also please have a firm contact tracing protocol that can be shared with families.
13. Please bring the kids back in school as soon as possible. Concerned that students are falling behind with the virtual and hybrid model.
14. Please return all children back to school full time, 5 days.
15. This person sent two letters. (1) Release the date of full return for all students; she suggests March 1. (2) They are always watching. Why spend an entire meeting discussing renaming while students are failing?
16. Wants an explanation for why our students are not back in school yet. Is opposed to renaming Lincoln Elementary. And also is concerned about a statement from a Board member regarding a school board candidate.
17. Stop wasting time renaming schools. Be concerned with educating children and getting them back in school.
18. Need to reopen Board meetings to listening sessions, and also concerned about a statement from a Board member regarding a school board candidate.
19. Why can’t high school students have access to their lockers while in school?
20. This person sent two letters. (1) Consider reopening Board meetings to include live listening sessions; reading emails is not the same as hearing directly; summarizing is not adequate; there’s little discussion of the concerns. (2) Also concerned that a Board member made an untrue statement about a school board candidate.
21. Please increase in person learning for 5th to 12th graders. Students are falling behind. Also consider modifying the parameters for staying home. Also encouraged holding in person school board meetings.
22. Shared her perspective on the challenges of a hybrid learning model. She supports increasing the time students are in school.
23. It’s time to give full in person access to all students. It’s also time for in person Board meetings and live public input.
24. This came from Sheri Hartzheim, School Board and District 13 Alderperson Candidate. She made comments relating to the Board’s work session on coherent governance, and looks forward to hearing that barriers will now be removed and there can be a return to some normalcy.
25. A Board member should retract a statement made about a Board of Education candidate.
26. Concerned about her children; their needs are not being met because of the schedule and lack of consistency.
27. Bring students back in person now. Determine a date.
28. Reconsider the 5-12 hybrid. Bring back full time.
29. This person sent two letters. (1) Return all students full time. (2) Expressed extreme displeasure with how some board members react to public scrutiny. (Kay added, “That was directed at me”). Also expressed displeasure at a Board member making a false comment about a school board candidate.
30. Bring older students back. Students have been adversely affected by this pandemic.
31. Open the schools for all children. Do not rename Lincoln. Concerned that Board members do not listen to parents.
32. Return 5th through 12th graders back to full time in person.
33. Release the date for full return of all students.
34. Expressed that her individual child needs to be back in school full time.
After reading those comments Kay reminded people watching that the Board cannot talk about things that are not on the agenda. If an item is not on an agenda then there should be no deep discussion about it. If the Board doesn’t address these topics or these concerns during a meeting when those topics/concerns are not on the agenda, it is because they really are restricted from doing that. They can provide brief follow-up or a quick answer to a question that needs to be answered, but the Board is restricted in the type of discussion that they can have regarding the issues brought up through public input. [It seems to me that having a public listening session would be a way to solve that problem.]
View full Board of Education meeting here: https://youtu.be/F82qpN4giR0
Be the first to reply