Academics Really Do Matter

Mr. Burris with all due respect I don’t think that law enforcement alone is going to be the answer to our attendance problem. Instead we have to make the children want to be there, they have to be excited about learning. We must stop messing with their already confused emotions. We are over stimulating them with self awareness and making them feel like they're samples under a microscope. For the first time in 2 years I've seen a complete change in my child, she's actually happy again. She's excited to go to school, she rides the bus with no fear, skips to the bus and joyfully shares her homework with me. But most importantly her face lights up when she tells me about her day. In her first 3 days of school I learned all of her teachers names and what they expect from us, and I heard it from her. She's over the moon about school activities (homecoming), because she knows she will get to attend. She knows it can't get stripped away from her because she's 2 compliance points short. With this school not pushing SEL she is finally feeling that she's found the place she belongs, she truly feels accepted. She's very excited over her future, she no longer worries about being good enough to live. The phrase "I should just kill myself" has not been spoken since school started, she no longer apologizes every 5 minutes for something she has no control over. She's thinking about careers, not suicide, drinking and drug use. I no longer get matter movement, sources of strength, report abuse, mental illness, drinking and drug prevention, no sexuality, planned parenthood teen pregnancy prevention brochures. I don't have to worry about her taking harmful surveys, no bullying, racism, diversity or any other ideologies. Instead I get stacks of career brochures, permission slips, and homework taken from real healthy curriculum. They also call me on anything pertaining to my child.

For the last 2 years I have reached out to the middle school for multiple reasons, I found only 1 person in that office that actually cared, but just like myself she was "shut down", or more specifically ignored. For 3 years now I have heard, it's the parents fault, it's because of their home life. Not true, the only thing that is different, that completely changed my daughter's whole attitude is the school and SEL completely from her education....unity and acceptance. If you want to make a change, I beg you to please try to abolish ALL SEL and all their ideologies, ALL collaborative entities like SCYC, rainbow youth groups, Montezuma youth pride, alliance groups, americorps, pinion project, St. Barnabas church, the gay straight alliances (GSA), and all other non profit organizations. At least try it for a year or two? Use them as a resource, try referring them to the parents, let the parents make the decision of what is best for their child. If you want parent participation, give the parents back their right to parent. These things are NOT the schools responsibility or privilege to make these decisions. Please take a stand before 09/12/2022 against title 9. We've been told that we have to adhere to this law, the same law that has been blocked at a federal level, the same law in the link that I'm attaching asking us to help stop it, please help us do that? It is also the same law that our neighboring districts are not using to the same extent as we are. As a parent I'm not prepared nor do I want to deal with helping my child recover from the mental devastation this will cause. How do you explain or justify being sexually violated in anyway? In closing I respectfully ask, has our past or present administration received any NSF (national science foundation) grants that obligates us to adhere to title 9? If so what is the penalty of abolishing it from our school district? Whatever the consequences are, it could never cover what it is costing our children. Thank you for everything you are doing. Lynnette Ward