A Community Petition to the Rush-Henrietta Central School District Board of Education

May 2026

To the Rush-Henrietta Central School District Board of Education:

We are submitting this petition with one central and urgent demand: remove the current Superintendent and begin an immediate search for new district leadership. This is not frustration over a single decision. It is the conclusion of a community that has compared what it has been told against what it has lived.

A DISTRICT WORSE OFF THAN BEFORE

Veteran teachers and administrators, the people who built this district, are leaving. Not because the work got harder, but because the culture under this administration rewards compliance and punishes honesty. Staff who witness safety failures and special education inconsistencies have learned that speaking up carries a professional cost. A district that looks functional from the outside feels broken from the inside, and our students are paying the price.

LEADERSHIP THROUGH FEAR

The night before the May 19th budget vote, the Superintendent emailed every family and employee a detailed list of everything that would be cut if the community voted no. That was not transparency. It was a pressure campaign timed for maximum impact. In the same email, she publicly criticized the parents who organized opposition for raising concerns outside her approved structures. A leader who has earned a community's trust does not govern by fear when the clock is running out.

WHEN THE RULES DON'T APPLY EQUALLY

Accountability only works when the rules apply to everyone. With our Code of Conduct, that no longer appears to be true. Serious infractions seem to carry consequences that depend on a student's last name or family connections rather than the conduct itself. When egregious violations are quietly set aside for some while others face the full rulebook, the system is broken. Every student and educator deserves a safe environment where the same standards apply to everyone, and this community deserves real transparency about how discipline is enforced.

MISPLACED PRIORITIES

This administration finds time and resources for high-profile public relations events while safety concerns go undocumented and educators continue to walk out the door. The true measure of a superintendent is not the awards on the wall or the publicity she generates. It is the safety, growth, and wellbeing of every child in our care. By that measure, this leadership is failing.

WHAT WE ARE ASKING FOR

We are calling on the Board of Education to immediately initiate the removal of the current Superintendent and begin a transparent, community-informed search for new leadership. Rush-Henrietta needs a superintendent who chose this district as a destination, not a waypoint. Someone who leads through trust rather than fear, values the educators in our buildings, and means it when they say our students come first.

A CALL TO OUR BARGAINING UNITS

The educators and staff who live this reality every day have a voice of their own. We are calling on all Rush-Henrietta bargaining units, and the Rush-Henrietta Education Association in particular, to hold a formal vote of no confidence in the current Superintendent. Such a vote puts on the record, clearly and collectively, what so many have only felt able to say in private.

TO THE BOARD, DIRECTLY

You were elected to represent this community, not to protect an administration or ratify a public image. The people behind this petition are telling you on the record that the current direction is causing harm. Educators are leaving. Students are underserved. Staff are afraid to speak. That is the record, and it is time to look at it honestly.

Make the change. Begin the search. Give Rush-Henrietta the leadership it has always deserved.