(Whatever you take with you into the polls, don't forget to vote on Saturday. - promoted by Brian)
I have held my opinion far too long waiting for the "elected" official to make a public apology. Since she will not and the school committee opts for explaining their silence in last week's letter to the editor as a "confidentiality issue" I take exception to the handling of this issue.
Far too much emphasis is being placed on it being a confidentiality issue and not on whether or not services were provided to the other students during this teacher's absence. It was also mentioned in the past that it "was only a prep period and one 45 minute block", which I want to stress the importance of this teacher having a prep period, for it is this time frame in which she follows up with the students other teachers to see where the students are having difficulty in and sets her class teachings to reinforce those issues. The 45 minute period she missed, was a teaching class, so both of these classes are important to the student who is having difficulty in regular classrooms. Does anyone know or has anyone questioned whether or not any grades were affected during the time frame the teacher was out tutoring this student? I can assure you they were.
I also want to make it clear that when a student qualifies for out of school tutor placement, the special education department uses teachers from the DPS to tutor these students. When asked if a child could be tutored during regular school hours, a friend was told that, no, that is not available as the tutors work at the schools during regular school hours so they only are available after school hours. She was unhappy with this, but, that was the policy. Now, because her child was tutored after school, from 3-5pm, and she had to be in the home while the tutoring was there, she now had to ask friends to pick up her elementary school children from school, because she could not leave the house, and if her child had any after school activities, she had to ask other parents to bring them to it. So, would she have preferred to have her child tutored before 3pm, you bet yah! Do I think this elected official misused her authority to make her life easier? You bet yah! I want you all to think about this coming election, and when voting for your school committee members, remember that you want this person to "look at the big picture", see every student as if they were their own, that they should be looking out for all students of the Dedham Public School, not just her own. Please think about who you want to represent your children on the School Committee the next three years and vote accordingly this Saturday.
