Monday night's Monroe School Board meeting was tough. Listening to former students and staff outlining harassment going back decades that was ignored. Current students asking trusted adults for help and protection. Community non-profits speaking on behalf of marginalized communities, including the Monroe Equity Council providing a six page report documenting hostility and abuses by Dr. Blasko and his team as well as their complete failure to act despite the repeated entreaties over more than a year.
The final insult of the night belonged to Dr. Jeremiah Campbell, who recently won the election to retain his place on the board. After all of the night's testimony --- and having heard similar pleas over the last year --- he responded by reading from a statement prepared prior to the meeting to dismiss our concerns as "knee-jerk", "myopic and näive." He further said the board should consider a move to limit public comments to a maximum of 15 minutes per meeting total.
Very little surprises me these days, but this was well and truly jaw-droppingly tone-deaf.
If you haven't already done so, please review the Monroe Equity Council report. It's pretty damning. https://www.tinyurl.com/MSD-report
If you'd like to listen to the audio recording of the meeting, it's posted here:
If you haven't shared the petition with your spouse, significant other, friend or family it's not too late to do so. More media coverage is coming. �