Our cherished Kent Elementary School principal is inexplicably being overlooked for tenure by Superintendent Mary Margaret Zehr and the Carmel Central School District Board of Education.

We are at real risk of losing our incredible leader who has successfully guided both the staff and our young children, as well as the parents, through the turmoil of COVID-19 and we need to show those who are making this reckless decision that our community is outraged.

At a time when stability, security and success should be celebrated, our school district is choosing to terminate it. We, as the stakeholders, whom the BOE are charged with supporting, must demand that Mrs. White be afforded tenure.  At a time when our budget is wreaking havoc on our schools and staff, our BOE and superintendent are choosing to further that havoc by terminating one of this districts greatest staffing successes. 

I remain in awe that my little school had 5 (YES 5) recipients of tenure. All hired by and led over the last 4 years by our very own Mrs. Kathryn White. How is it that the obviousness of her impact is missed by those who are running this district? If ever there was a time for advocacy for our KES family, IT IS NOW. We as stakeholders, and more importantly, as parents of the Little’s we trust to Mrs. White and this district need to speak up, write, call, be vocal and demand that our leader not be overlooked for a tenure role so that KES and all that are within its walls can continue to flourish.

The mark of an excellent leader is the success of those who rise underneath her. There no greater evidence of this than the 5 tenure appointments from KES. Perhaps our district leadership needs a reminder of that.