After years of bullying reported by parents in Seabrook, the problem will not go away until Seabrook residents fork over more money in taxes. That’s the message coming from some of the school board members and administrators.
When parents have spoken before the school board about their children who’ve been bullied in school, some board members and administrators point to the default budget that they are working under. They say that the lower budget does not provide enough money to hire a Behaviorist. If they could just hire a behaviorist, all of these problems go away.
Is this the most absurd reason for allowing bullying to continue under their leadership?
Since when is it ok to blame residents for not doing your job?
I’ve listened to parent after parent, year after year complain that the bullying continues, and nothing is being done. Or if something is being done, it’s not working. Every year the administrators come up with a list of reasons that they cannot handle a 10 year old bully. But isn’t that their job?
Year after year, the same people make excuses for not fixing this problem, but now they blame the residents who vote for the default budget. It shouldn’t matter if a Behaviorist is hired, the administration needs to do something to help the kids who’ve been tormented in this school.
Right now, a parent in Bedford is filing a restraining order against a student who is harassing his daughter at school. Bedford has a Behavior Specialist on staff, and yet a parent there has to turn to law enforcement to stop the harassment. What is going on in these schools that this kind of behavior continues ?
Bullying and harassment of a child cannot be tolerated.
In Keene, the behavior problems caused teachers to resign. Not only are children suffering for this lack of action, teachers have been speaking out too. The Keene School Board had to finally step in, and force the administrators to do their job. The Keene School board directed administrators to crack down on troubling behaviors at Keene High. Yet in Seabrook, some are still blaming residents for not throwing more of their money at this problem.
Adding non-teaching personnel has caused budgets to increase dramatically in New Hampshire. Parents tend to support teachers earning a decent salary, but how do they continue to support that when they see all of these people hired, and administrators unwilling to fix these problems?
If administrators cannot deal with a 10-year old bully in their school, how is it the fault of taxpayers who live in Seabrook? Maybe it’s actually the fault of those running the schools. If they cannot do their job, then maybe it’s time to replace them.
This is why the parent started a petition to remove the Superintendent of SAU21, Meredith Nadeau. I don’t know why this problem persists, and why something like this cannot be resolved. But if this lack of action continues, the numbers on this petition will continue to grow.
PETITION:
The Issue
I am a concerned parent with children in the SAU 21 district, directly affected by the lack of intervention and care displayed by Superintendent Meredith Nadeau. Her complacency is undermining the quality of education and safety in our schools, particularly regarding serious bullying issues in the Seabrook middle school.
Nadeau’s approach to important school issues simply exacerbates them. She neglects the fact that 53 acts of violence occurred in our school last year – an alarming number that cannot be overlooked or trivialized. Yet that’s exactly how she treats it: insignificant. This dismissal of the school’s problems directly affects the children who merely seek a safe and conducive learning environment.
Furthermore, Nadeau’s promotion of policy infringement within the administrative faculty is a grave concern. This breeds an atmosphere of mistrust and inconsistency, negatively impacting the execution of school regulations intended to protect and guide our children. Her plans to dismiss suspensions, citing mental health benefits, and fail to build safer, more inclusive alternatives is alarming.
In an academic environment, we need leaders who uplift their staff, not belittle or dismiss them. We have witnessed great teachers, those brave enough to take a stand, being systematically sidelined under her leadership. This is detrimental to our school’s communal knowledge and its ethos of standing up for what’s right.
Our school requires a superintendent who prioritizes the well-being and education of its students. Our children deserve better. Join us in demanding the dismissal of Superintendent Meredith Nedeau from SAU 21. Sign this petition today.
Agree? Disagree? Submit Op-Eds to steve@granitegrok.com – We want to hear from you, too!
