To the editor:
I am angry.
My son and his friends created an anti-bullying club at Nelsonville York schools when they were in 5th grade. Since then, the club has become an official school organization and its members have done important work in reducing bullying and raising awareness of mental health issues, including suicide. I am very proud of these kids.
I am angry because my son must keep attending school board meetings to inform them about the same set of issues over and over and over again. Bullying at N-Y continues to be a dire issue, not to mention the ongoing mental health crisis. And yet, school administration and the school board only seem to be able to offer temporary solutions that are performative at best and borderline negligent at worst.
Our students, teachers, staff, and parents deserve more than a token acknowledgement of suicide awareness at a football game. A student tragically lost their life at the beginning of the summer and, despite what school administration has told the school board, there have been no grief counsellors or support groups offered during this school year. There were counselors available for one day this summer, and another parent had to push for that to happen.
I relayed these remarks at the latest school board meeting. I was polite, calm, and respectful. However, the board president thought it would be appropriate to raise his voice and scold me after I sat down. He told me to my face that I was wrong and implied that he trusted the word of school administration more than that of a parent. He also said that he was sick of parents coming to board meetings to complain and that I shouldn’t attend another meeting unless I had actual solutions in place. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that identifying and implementing solutions is quite literally his job.
I am disappointed by the district’s seeming indifference towards the people they are supposed to care for. I wonder if they truly have my children’s best interests at heart or if they are only there to maintain the status quo. But mostly, I’m dismayed by the open resentment displayed by the board president. Both the board and administration must be held to account.
I was on the fence in regard to running for a seat on the school board in 2025, but this incident has firmly pushed me to act. I invite other parents in our district to not only attend future board meetings, but to also consider running for school board. New leadership is needed, and our students and teachers deserve better.
Ross Hockman
Nelsonville, Ohio
