Nashua Board of Education: You Can’t Hit Mute Forever - Granite Grok

Nashua Board of Education: You Can’t Hit Mute Forever

Chris Parks Standing_ with Obama? in the middle)

Dear Nashua Board of Education, Three things from the meeting on Monday, February 8, 2021, where I was cut off — so the board could get a full eight hours of sleep.


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1) I would like to thank Interim Superintendent McKinney for listening to parents and pushing “hybrid” learning forward. Although it does seem like members of the BOE are apprehensive because they care more about their campaign donations and support from the teacher’s union than being advocates for our kids.

2) I would like to thank the two student board members for providing the only useful information to the board in the last several months. I can’t help but laugh that two high school students are more capable of listening to their constituents than the adult members of the board. It’s also amazing that a certain board member wanted to question metrics when it was made very clear in a poll over a month ago that 55% of parents wanted to go back to a hybrid model if not full-on in-person learning.

3) I would like to applaud the faux outrage of a certain member of the board over Ms. Paula Johnson’s comments concerning the possibility of a student committing suicide. You say that you only want factual information and not trafficking in fear. The irony is that the entire Nashua BOE COVID narrative has been about fear. That is why our students are not in school and most of the state is. I would suggest you look at what has happened across the country to students from Maine to Nevada that have succumb to depression because they have missed out on normal teenage social interaction. If you need one of the many examples of students taking their own life, pediatricians proclaiming this is a risk or anything else that will help you see the writing on the wall that you refuse to see, let me know.

No one was amused the other night when the public comments were cut short with so many people waiting on the line. I did notice that one caller, who repeatedly acts as the mouthpiece for the board, was allowed to speak twice. I also noticed a little comment about “any emails to the board can be made public as part of a right to know”. I’m positive this was meant to cover up the behind the scenes conversations that are had with certain citizens friendly to the board. I mean hey, who randomly puts in a right to know for emails sent to the BOE on very specific days without already being tipped off?

With the kids going back, regardless of how little that may be, I would encourage the BOE to start to meet in person. It has nothing to do with being hypocritical, which it is, but everything to do with leadership. Meeting in person also allows the citizens to voice their opinions without being cut off while the board hides behind their screens. I know getting into your cars and going to a location to do a job you were elected to do is scarier than the supermarket, Starbucks, or meetings with family members not in your immediate household, but you do work for us.

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