We, the parents, staff, students, alumni, and invested community members are collectively asking our Board of Trustees to vote NO on Monday to the Katherine Anne Porter School/Premier High School merge.

It is our belief that the Katherine Anne Porter School can thrive as it once did, if under the leadership of a Board and Administration that align with the mission, values, and pillars of success that made the school so successful for its first 2 decades. Having just now become privy to the financial and operational challenges of the school, stakeholders of the school should be given the opportunity to act in response to adapt and lend support to ensure future success of the Katherine Anne Porter School. We note that this is not the first time the budget of the school has been a concern, but it is the first time our leaders have given up on the viability of the school to continue serving students and changing lives. This is the first time that a consideration to the extent of ending the Katherine Anne Porter School as we know has been on the table.

Regarding the “collaboration” with Responsive Ed to remake the Katherine Anne Porter School into Premier High School, we are opposed. It is not our belief that the new model of school will be in the best interest of the students served, based on the kinds of personalities and needs that brought these students to the unique environment of the Katherine Anne Porter School. We believe it is critical that teachers are empowered to teach meaningful lessons through active engagement, and students are worthy of learning the same way. We believe in the importance of connection, compassion, and community. We believe that elective courses are necessary to build confidence, foster creativity, and provide a healthy, meaningful outlet to teenagers, and courses like art and guitar cannot be self-taught through a packet or online. We believe that exciting and passion-driven extracurriculars organized by the school are necessary to engage our students beyond the school day, to nurture their extended interests and healthy social development.

We also collectively ask for the immediate resignation of President/Treasurer Ronnie Pinkerton. Although the Board has acknowledged a declining school on the path to longterm failure for 5+ years, the Board has responded with a frequent turnover in school leadership (the Superintendent), but it has failed to look at its own leadership as a problem (the Board President). We want the school to refresh to its once successful principles, and that starts from the top. In order to be the thriving school filled with students and hundreds on the waiting list once again, the Katherine Anne Porter School must have a board, administrators, and teachers who personally own a shared vision of a supportive, creative, compassionate, inclusive educational environment. This is not a reimagined environment; however, it is one that must be rediscovered given the current environment, starting at the top.

We are aware that Mr. Pinkerton has operated on the board past the limits of the Katherine Anne Porter School bylaws, which are the board’s own governing documents that state in section 3.3:

Term of Office

Each trustee shall serve a 2 year term, with no trustee being allowed to take more than three consecutive terms. (This is 6 years total)

We challenge why a blind eye has been turned to this. We ask, how is this OK? Is it not one of the Board’s primary duties to ensure compliance with matters of governance?

Summarized Intent:

For the future sake of the Katherine Anne Porter School and preserving what remains of its original intent and resuscitating what has been lost, with hope for many generations to come to benefit from the saving-grace that the Katherine Anne Porter School has been for hundreds of students already, for the belief that the school can and will thrive again, I petition the Board of Trustees to take 2 actions at the Monday, January 31 board meeting:

1.   Vote no to the merge of ResponsiveEd/Premier High School with Katherine Anne Porter School

2.   Call for the immediate resignation of Ronnie Pinkerton from the Board