New NECSD school board president Christine Bello has proven that she is unfit to serve as board president and must resign her position immediately. 

WATCH Fellow Board Member Calls out Bellow's Racism, (2:16:25 mark) 

 

 

This petition was started because of an incident that took place at the July 2, 2024 Newburgh Enlarged City School District school board meeting where the newly elected Board President disrespectfully called Melanie Collins an *sshole during the public comment period because she didn't like what she had to say. This was shocking and unacceptable behavior from someone who should be held to higher standards because of her position. 

However, this is not the only problem with Bello at the helm:

1. Watch president Bello call concerned parent an *sshole on the open mic during her first meeting as president.  (2:56:32 mark) 

 

 

3. . Bello has violated the code of ethics of the state boards of education and is downright nasty and dismissive of her colleagues and the nature of the business at hand. 

3. Bello is pushing a personal agenda to undermine the first Black woman Superintendent and sabotage the administration’s ability to do their jobs. Her racist aggressions include formally moving the Superintendents assigned seat at the board meetings from center dais (as is customary) which signals a demotion of the role and ensures she does not have to physically sit next to her.

4. Bello is unapologetically colluding with a disgraced ex-teacher and a fake social media account to harass and defame her board colleagues and community members. The ex-teacher was fired for inappropriately touching kids, and she is working behind the scenes to have him reinstated.

5. Bello has zero stake in our schools and should not be allowed to oversee them. She has never had children in the district nor does she have any ties to education or any volunteer experience of merit. So why is she here and what is her ulterior motive?

There is increasing concern that this school board president is intentionally undermining the Superintendent and her cabinet and by extension, jeopardizing the educational futures of our children. Misguided personal agendas should never get in the way of education, particularly at the cost of our children’s growth and development. 

According to the National School Boards Association, the role of a school board is to "ensure the direction of its schools is aligned to the community’s education priorities", yet Bello has restructured the meetings to disenfranchise the public and attempts to shut down community voices and disregard our interests at every pass.  It is clear that her conduct does not align with our community’s education priorities.

Given these concerns, we are demanding the resignation of the Christine Bello as school board president. We believe a change in leadership is critical for the sake of our children and for the entire school community. We need a leader who values respect, open communication and the pursuit of quality education above personal agendas.

Please sign this petition to help us ensure our school district is led by someone who values and respects the position and the educational goals of our community.