PUBLIC COMMENTS SHARED AT MARCH 14 IUSD BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING
A respectful request for Public Hearing on how COVID-19 Pandemic Response Has Affected Our Community
On Tuesday, March 14 at one of the most heavily attended IUSD Board of Education meetings that I have been engaged in over the past two years, I shared my prepared public comments. Going into the meeting, I wasn’t expecting to have a standing room only audience of more than 100 community members present to hear my comments- this was truly a blessing! To put it in perspective- the non IUSD staff attendance of the Board meetings I have attended over the past two years has averaged less than 10 (counting myself). The IUSD staff present usually outnumbers public/community members present. Although the vast majority of those present were there to share public support of and public comments in favor of IUSD adopting Girls Varsity Flag Football as an official CIF recognized sport in our district- I’m eternally grateful that those community members were able to hear my comments. In my public comments (pasted in their entirety below), I respectfully requested that IUSD hold a public hearing before the end of the current school year to allow opportunity for members of the IUSD community (families, students, staff, teachers, administrators…etc) to openly share how COVID-19 pandemic response, mandates and IUSD’s COVID-19 mitigation plan affected them. My comments can be watched here starting at the 41 minute 34 second mark. I sincerely appreciate the smiles, applause, positive acknowledgments and thank yous received from the families in attendance who staid through the entire duration of public comments which lasted 59 minutes.
Please stay tuned for the my full 4-1-1 report on the March 14 2023 IUSD Board of Education Meeting which will be published soon….
Public Comments Shared on March 14
Thank you for the opportunity to share my public comments this evening. There are two things I would like to touch on in my comments tonight: #1- On behalf of the Cypress Village Elementary 2022 Reflections Category winners and their families, I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to Katie McEwen, Esther Morales & Terry Walker for responding to the concern I raised in my January public comments about Cypress Village Elementary’s winners being excluded from judging and recognition at the District wide contest level. Through working together offline, we were able to arrive at a solution that was fair, satisfied the families of the category winners, and gave proper District Level recognition to each of the winners for their artistic talents. In the process Cypress Village PTA gleaned some lessons learned which will only serve to strengthen our local Reflections program moving forward. Attendance of the March 4th District Reflections Awards ceremony was very meaningful for all our families and it was a lovely event. There is no doubt our District is rich with artistic talent.
#2- On behalf of members of the IUSD community who have been deeply affected by IUSD’s COVID-19 Pandemic Response, Mandates, and the COVID mitigation strategies previously in place I would like to respectfully request that a public hearing be held to allow opportunity for community members to share their feedback (positive or negative), air their grievances and share their stories from this unprecedented time in IUSD’s history. I recommend such a hearing be held in May/June timeframe, that it be live streamed, and that remote participation be made available for those community members not able to attend in person. As much as we all want to permanently “memory hole” COVID-19 and COVID-19 Pandemic response, we can’t do that. If IUSD neglects to speak openly about the known effects IUSD’s Pandemic response has had on members of our community and fails to allow a forum for community members themselves to address the topic in a public setting- you are doing everyone a huge disservice that will only prolong the healing process for those who have been most afflicted. The externalities that accompanied IUSD’s Pandemic response in the form of cataclysmic learning loss, speech delays, delays for English Language Learners, exacerbation of the mental health crisis, behavioral challenges, sense of isolation, missed celebrations, missed graduations, missed theatrical and arts performances, missed team sports opportunities, missed social opportunities and more are too significant to merely brush aside. We must talk about these things. The community needs the reassurance that you are addressing these concerns in good faith. Holding a public hearing focused specifically on how IUSD’s Pandemic response affected our community would go a long way towards rebuilding trust locally within our community and would go a long way towards showing that IUSD really does care, is accountable and does accept responsibility for the decisions you have made. I specifically chose today March 14th to make this request as it marks the one year anniversary of the mask mandates being lifted. If there is one thing that the past year has clearly shown it is that good things can and will happen when personal choice is favored and honored, and mandates not imposed. Thank you for your consideration.