Kiner's Korner: Q & A With School Board Member Kevin Fealy (Part 2)

Editor's note: Bill Kiner's was published Tuesday on Enfield Patch. In this segment, he expresses his reaction to Mr. Fealy's responses.

To my readers: I have given Mr. Fealy an opportunity to express himself. I hope that my readers will also respond to Mr. Fealy. I have taken the liberty to offer my opinions as well, and like Mr. Fealy, would also welcome your comments.

It seems that this BOE member has already concluded that teachers have secret agendas. That, at least, is the case where Mr. Fealy wants a list of all philosophers taught in the classroom. There seems to be a fear that teachers would  try to sneak one philosopher into the curriculum who would destroy our children's patriotism and or mortality. Hogwash! In my 36 years as a teacher at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels, and as a parent who was active in the education of my three children, this "secret agenda" was never an issue. (The Philosophy class involved is a senior level 1 class, not open to the general student population, and where the students are 17 and 18 years of age).There are always instances where a good teacher might wander from the day's lesson plan because an issue seemed to interest the class. I would be remiss in my duties as a teacher  if I didn't respond to students who were interested in learning- perhaps not with the particular history lesson that I had planned for the day ( I taught U.S. History), but in something worthy of the students' interest at the time-perhaps even climate change! That is what teachers do-they respond to students interests and they stimulate education.

Through other sources, there is some concern that though Mr. Fealy says he wants both sides of an issue aired, he is reluctant to adhere to this himself.

It also would appear that Mr. Fealy has already made up his mind that teachers abuse the trust that we as parents have bestowed upon educators. ("Also, I believe we, as parents, need to hold our teachers and administrators accountable if they abuse the trust given them with regard to our children," says Mr. Fealy). There are safeguards built into the system now. This is not a new concept that Mr. Fealy has found. If a teacher abuses that trust, there is no one, not even the teacher unions, who would want that teacher to remain in the classroom. That's a no brainer! That's a given!

Another case in point is the biology curriculum recommendations discussed at the January 10th meeting and another meeting on January 23rd. At the January 10th meeting, the BOE reviewed a recommendation from the curriculum committee to approve updates to the High School Biology Curriculum and Mr. Fealy raised some concerns. The Board considered Mr. Fealy's concerns and opted to refer the recommendations back to the curriculum committee for further changes. The bipartisan BOE curriculum committee met once more with the High School department chairs and left the meeting feeling comfortable with what they had discussed at the meeting. Mr. Fealy was invited to this meeting but indicated that work prevented him from attending. At the January 23rd BOE meeting, the curriculum discussions were again addressed. Mr. Fealy believed that there were not any changes and that his concerns were not addressed and that teachers had too much latitude in determining what was taught. In a 7-1 vote (Mr. Fealy was the dissenting vote), the Board passed the curriculum updates.

It also would appear from BOE minutes, that respect for the chairman, which is an unwritten rule of courtesy practiced by both Democrats and Republicans, seems to be lacking here. My sources tell me that the chairman, wanting to avoid the appearance of partisanship, asked Republicans and Democrats to sit together at meetings, rather than on opposite sides. Mr. Fealy refused.

Also, during the debate on the Biology curriculum (January 23)  Mr. Fealy quoted a passage from a book that he considered offensive. Perhaps it was offensive, perhaps it was not. That is not the issue. The issue is that the chairman asked Mr. Fealy to stop quoting the passage because it was not pertinent to the issue being addressed (the Biology curriculum). Mr. Fealy refused the chairman's request and continued. The chairman asked again, and again Mr. Fealy refused. Finally on the third request, Mr. Fealy was finished reading. I do not believe that meetings, meant to address the needs of our children, should be carried on with disregard  for rules of order. Further, there is Board of Education written policy that address issues such as controversial books used in a class. Rather than using this approach, the gentleman in question used the public forum for attention. The Board of Education, under Chairman Stokes and now under Chairman Neville are there for the kids, and not to air the  gripes of an angry board member.