True Leadership is Needed for the Wissahickon School Board

…”it is never a good idea to insult the people who are making the decisions. We'll not hold that against you.  But just for whatever you do, I think that's wise I think.”

These are the words of the current school board president of the Wissahickon School District, Mr. Young Park. They are part of the legal record from the October 8, 2012 hearing. Flying in the face of the anti-bullying policy implemented across the school district, he sat in the center of the table and stated this to the parents and community members who came to testify to the school board the myriad of reasons why they should vote to keep Mattison Avenue Elementary School open. This same person is running again to make the decisions concerning our children and the children of this community.

On June 11, 2012, I attended my very first school board meeting. Since that date I have attended every school board meeting (except one in September of 2013), all but one Community Interest Group (CIG) meeting, and both special hearings regarding the closure of Mattison Avenue Elementary. This has given me a front row seat into the workings of the school board and how they have responded to the events over this time period.

There have been a lot of letters and statements over the last weeks lauding the school board and its president for keeping taxes low and state rankings. What those letters have not shared have been the bullying and insults that have come from the center of the school board of directors table, the complete lack of response to and communication with the community on the part of the president, and the lack of leadership on his part in ignoring the lack of achievement for the lowest performing students in his goal of making the school district “#1 in the state.”

• At the January 14, 2013 school board meeting when the vote regarding Mattison Avenue’s future was decided, Mr. Park had this to say to the parents of the Ambler community in regards to parental involvement:
  “…I do believe that it is a sacrifice worth making. It is a sacrifice that needs to be made, not just by the Latino families, but the other families as well.”
• At the Spring school board candidate forum, all the candidates were asked how they would improve communication between the school board and the community. Mr. Park was the only candidate to refuse to answer the question. Instead, he gave an explanation as to why he closed Mattison Avenue.
• At the same forum, all the candidates were asked if they were in favor of moving the school board meeting dates and locations to various schools in order to increase community participation. Every candidate present agreed it was a good idea, except for Mr. Park.
• Whenever he was asked about a referendum regarding the building of a new high school over the last year, Mr. Park has repeatedly said that it wasn’t necessary. That the school board could make the decision without the input of the community since they wouldn’t have to raise taxes to commit to the building of the school. Interestingly, this answer has changed as the election nears and he now supports a referendum and has halted the decision on the building of a new high school in spite of pushing it through as quickly as possible until recently.
• Although Mr. Park has publicly stated that the community should email him directly with any concerns, there are at least a dozen people that can show that they have sent him emails over the last year and a half and many can document the fact that he never even opened their emails, never mind that he never…EVER…responded to any of them.
• The high school has failed to achieve AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) at least 5 out of the last 6 years and the recent report from the administration shows that last year only 62% of the students passed the Keystone biology exam. In spite of these facts, Mr. Park’s goal is to not to meet the needs of our lowest performing students but to make the district “#1 in the state.” He stated this at both the recent candidate forum and the last school board meeting. 

The fact that our taxes haven’t been raised in recent years is not a good enough reason to re-elect a man that has bullied and insulted our community, a man that has had a complete disregard for those students most in need of assistance in our school district in his zeal to achieve a meaningless ranking.

We need leadership for our district that will strive to meet the needs of EVERY student in our district, not just those that can increase the AP roles. We need leadership that is going to demand meaningful communication between the district administration, school board, and community. We need leadership that actually represents the needs and wants of the community instead of furthering their own personal agenda.