Last year, the Worthington (Ohio) School Board, without allowing community input, banned police from patrolling or protecting school buildings as school resource officers. Since then, safety concerns have caused many worried students and some of our parents to ask the Board to allow these officers back into school buildings. Recently, a Worthington High School student started a different petition in support of this.

At the Worthington School Board meeting on Monday August 9, 2021, a diverse group of nine high school students presented their petition and addressed the school board about why they support having police in their high schools.

As the group of students stood before the board, Worthington School Board Member Sam Shim posted on his Facebook account and falsely called the students “white supremacists.” (See his post above)

Bullying and false name calling is terrible and something we see all too often in our high schools. But it’s so much worse when the bullying is being done by a member of a school board whose job it is to protect and support us as students.

Shim has refused to apologize, and he must immediately resign from the Worthington Board of Education.  

Signed,

Thomas Worthington and Worthington Kilbourne High School Students