It has come to my attention that a teacher at our school is being forced to quit because the administration refuses to help accommodate her parental needs for her young child. Previously, I have considered organizing a petition in response to the school’s administrative blunders including the deeply unpopular WIN blocks, the bizarre three-block week, and the drastic scaling down of elective courses. Nonetheless, each time I decided to let it go.  

But these missteps keep piling up. Having been in the Newton Public School system since kindergarten, I appreciate the opportunities NPS has given me and take pride in our academic strength. Now in my last year, I am disappointed that Newton South has turned into such a fiasco. I do not know of a single classmate who is happy with what is happening. I regularly hear my peers saying, “I’m glad I won’t be in this school next year.”

The undersigned students below believe the school administration has crossed the line. Ms. Cara Shorey is one of the kindest teachers that many of us have ever had. It has always been clear to her students that she loves teaching and working with them. However, she is now choosing to leave the school because most teacher grievances fall on deaf ears. The school’s inability to work with her childcare situation is only one example of the dissatisfying administrative responses. To our knowledge, this is a symptom of the school refusing to listen to teachers and students. Supposedly, the teacher’s union had a vote with an 85% majority saying that they wanted to have the staff meeting before school. Yet, for some reason, staff meetings are being held after school on Tuesdays.  

It is frustrating that the administration does not do everything in its power to retain strong teachers. To that end, we hope that this petition will highlight the anger of the student body and prompt a healthy change for our school. We urge the school administration to begin taking the opinions and circumstances of all students and all teachers into consideration. Furthermore, we demand that the school makes an honest effort to help teachers feel welcome so that they can focus on teaching. Specifically, we hope that the school will make a good faith offer to Ms. Shorey regarding her employment.