Letter to the editor: Teachers really are our heroes

All that is right with Bristol elementary school…

My heart breaks for everyone in our district: students, staff, parents, administrators and board. How did we get here?

Mount Abraham Unified School District Board chair Dawn Griswold refused to convene an executive session Monday night to hear testimony from a distraught parent who alleges her child was sexually harassed at Bristol Elementary School.

School board members, staff, parents and community members were looking for answers when the MAUSD board convened a special meeting this past Thursday, Oct. 21.

Save Community Schools supports the staff, students and families of Bristol Elementary School.

That one incident is merely a culminating example of policy and communication issues and utter ineptness that have plagued our district for several years.

When my daughter started at Bristol Elementary I realized things have changed a lot since I went to school there. 

I was a classroom teacher at Robinson Elementary School in Starksboro from 1999 until this past June.

When Kelly Hedley, a parent in the Mount Abraham Unified School District, spoke at last week’s school board meeting in the high school cafeteria, she stood alone.

School boards face a number of challenges when they need to communicate or hear testimony about issues that might involve individual students or employees.

Vermont residents wouldn’t be wrong to look at the state of our schools today and surmise they are in crisis.

Recent events at Bristol Elementary School have caused me to be very concerned about the school that my 9-year-old grandson attends.

I was a classroom teacher at Bristol Elementary School from 1996-2018. I am deeply saddened to hear about the recent events at the school. I am also, unfortunately, not surprised.

As a former special education teacher, I was dismayed, saddened and angry as I listened to teachers at the Oct. 12 Mount Abraham Union School District school board meeting.

Today I saw that a local town has elementary students who terrorize the classrooms, including the teachers, and get away with it. Huh? You are kidding me, right?