Dr. Kristen Johnson has been advising the school district on all things COVID. Dr. Johnson works for Core Physicians in Exeter, and also received the Citizen of the Year from the Portsmouth Herald for her work as the consulting physician for SAU16.
Dr. Johson was one of the reasons the district remained closed while children in other districts attended school.
Pediatricians across the country were saying it was safe for children to return to school, but Exeter was one of a few schools that refused to open. There was a debate happening across the country – could schools open safely?
Related: The Exeter School District’s (SAU16) BLM Bedfellows…
Can parents have a choice whether to send their children to school? After all, they pay the bills, and it’s their children -shouldn’t they be the ones to drive this decision? It would have been different if all of the medical community stood together to keep schools closed, but they didn’t.
Because so many Pediatricians across the country were outspoken advising schools to open, why keep schools closed in SAU16? Why not default to parents if there was a mixed message coming from those in the medical community?
Did David Ryan find one pediatrician that would advise the district to remain closed — while ignoring the advice of scores of pediatricians saying it was ok to send kids back to school? Whatever the case, the district met the needs of some of the children whose parents wanted their kids home and refused to accommodate the other parents who wanted their children receiving in-person instruction.
Dr. Johnson later received acclamation for the work she did in the district but did you know that David Ryan sits on the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce in Exeter, and they are the ones who determine who receives the award?
I suspect that irked a few parents who saw the award as some sort of pay-off. Dr. Johnson will most likely weigh in on masks for students. Can we all guess how that will go? Will parents be allowed to parent their child, or will their authority again be discarded?
We all appreciate our physicians and pediatricians offering advice. However, we don’t always do what is recommended. Children are different, families are different, so we try to do what’s best based on their recommendations.
Last year children were suffering emotionally and academically. This has been reflected in the proficiency levels that have plummeted under David Ryan’s leadership. But more importantly, Emergency Room Doctors in New Hampshire were expressing concern over the number of children coming into the ER for depression, anxiety, and self-harm. Parents know their children the best so why not give them the best advice possible, and let parents decide what is best for their children?
Maybe there is a person in the home who is immune-compromised, in-school learning may not have been the best option for them. For other parents, if they saw their child struggling emotionally, they could have sent their child to school. That’s how a leader serves all families, not just some.
Who received Non-Profit of the year?
Kim Meyer who serves on the Exeter School Board also serves as CEO of the Exeter YMCA. During the school shut down, the YMCA benefited financially from students who were sent there during the day for services.
It was the Chamber of Commerce in Exeter who named the YMCA as the non-Profit of the year. Who is an honorary Director at the Exeter Chamber of Commerce? Again, David Ryan.
Kim Meyer was the deciding vote to keep Exeter shut down while students all over New Hampshire were attending school in person all year long. A few of the local boards in SAU16 bucked the advice, listened to parents, and offered in-person learning to their families. They relied on the principals and staff to figure out how to wade through the challenges. Why was this so difficult for a Superintendent to figure out?
Many parents have asked why Ms. Meyer didn’t recuse herself from that important vote, knowing the YMCA would benefit financially from a school shut-down. Wasn’t that a conflict of interest?
Not only did these people work against some of the families in the district, but they also benefited in some way, financially.
How is it ok for kids to gather at the YMCA to work remotely but they cannot gather in a classroom? Was there a financial motive to Ms. Meyer’s vote? This is what parents are now questioning. How much did this cost the taxpayers? Was this another expenditure that could have been avoided had all schools remained open like the many other schools that served their families?
Questions remain on so many issues plaguing SAU16. These are just more to add to that long list.
Administrators and school board members are supposed to serve all families. There were ways to accomplish that as we can see from the other districts that had leaders in place who could do the task that was put in front of them.
