Chelsea Thielen
Sartell
An informed community is a strong and healthy community. To that end, I wish to share my perspective as a parent of two Sartell High School students for those in the community who are not directly affected by the actions of our newly elected slate of three school board members (Jen Smith, Emily Watson, Scott Wershau). I believe those members have grossly misled the public in saying they would promote ALL parents (and their rights) and put “kids over politics.” Their bait-and-switch is concerning as they hold much responsibility for the health of our schools.
I attended the February board meeting joined by a capacity crowd that was overwhelmingly there in response to concerns over the unethical actions taken by those three board members during the January board meetings. Actions which included unprovoked and unwarranted harassment of our teachers. The crowd gathered in opposition to the members’ behavior was comprised and led by educators, students and parents who understand past successes of the district are a result of the educators we have. We attended to resist the narrative those three board members promote: that educators cannot be valued and trusted as professionals.
As students shared their Sartell school experiences, those three members could not be bothered to regard the speakers with the decorum expected of elected officials, nor basic human decency. Rather, they opted for staring at their notes, mockingly applauding student claims of being let down by the board’s recent actions, and denying the students acknowledgment they exist and that their message was received. The members chided the student perspective as the message was contrary to their own political agenda.
They campaigned on “putting kids over politics,” but once in power, their actions are “putting politics over kids.” They campaigned on “putting parents back in the equation,” but once in power, have taken ALL parents’ rights out of the equation. They campaigned on bringing a “level-headed approach to the board” and action-based steps to address bullying, but once in power, they’ve demonstrated an inability to remain level-headed and have failed to take action to address the bullying of teachers and students by their group.