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Riverside Resident Blasts School Board's Actions

The views and opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author and do not reflect the position of Main Street Connect LLC.

 

While not a member of the Greenwich/Stamford Tea Party, I have read their recent newsletter. Buried within many false statements about the IB framework and personal character attacks against Dr. Freund, which I shall not address in this letter, they have managed to bring up one interesting point. I have highlighted it in the following paragraph.To quote the newsletter:"You see, in Greenwich, the public school system is still treasured as one of its crown jewels. Never mind that it's ranking with comparable schools has been dropping ... and dropping ... and dropping to the point that the Greenwich Public Education system is no longer a source of innovation and academic leadership in the state. Depending on who you talk to, once in the top 10 in the nation, the Greenwich Public School System is ranked 17th in the state or no longer in the top 20. Either way, it's an embarrassment for a town that lavishes so much in money and resources on the students."

It seems to me that the Greenwich/Stamford Tea Party is concerned about a lack of innovation and a lack of academic leadership. The remedy to this problem, which they themselves have identified is simple: Expansion of the International Baccalaureate framework to all GPS schools, at every grade level. Innovation, solved. Academic leadership, also solved.There are more questions that demand answers. Why has the GPS ranking dropped so drastically over the years? Why have there been four superintendents in 11 years? Is it not the function of the Board of Education to serve the best interests of the students? Furthermore, why are school board members allowed to sit on the board without having children enrolled in the public school system? Why would a parent of a privately schooled child want to involve themselves in the public school system unless it is to hold back the innovations and academic leadership that would make GPS the premier school district in the nation that it once was. Surely this would be an abuse of power as well as blatant corrupt elitism, and should be terms for immediate expulsion from the board.Dr. Freund as superintendent has been the voice for innovation and academic leadership. He has not been allowed to do his job by this current Board of Education. The current board has failed to work together. They have failed to work with the superintendent. Ultimately, they have failed the students. It is the school board and not the superintendent who should resign.I am the parent of a GPS elementary age student. I am not alone in wishing that Dr. Freund will continue to lead our students to a brighter future. None of us blames him for wanting to extricate himself from the quagmire in which some dubiously intentioned Board of Education members have buried him. We just wish he wouldn't leave. We also wish that those few misguided Board of Education members who have buried him would resign.Sincerely,Elise HingsonRiverside, CT

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