Rock Springs, Wyoming – The Sweetwater School District No. 1 Board of Trustees on Monday shared a letter to the public condemning vicious comments made online about district personnel.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=34]
The comments were made in social media prior to the board approving the district’s attendance policy changes. The policy changes were approved by the board at a special meeting last Wednesday, July 17.
Prior to the approval last Wednesday, board President Carol Jelaco read the letter. It addressed the board’s commitment to the district’s students and its employees and outlined how residents should address the board when it comes to issues about which the board will consider.
The letter reads:
“To our community, We are your elected representatives on the Sweetwater County School District #1 board of education. All 5,438 students enrolled in our district, the fourth largest in our state, are important to us. All our community feels the impact of the choices and policies we enact as your board.
“We feel it through our employees, through the employees of our district, through the parents, grandparents, foster parents, and legal guardians, and through the children whose education our district is entrusted with supplying. Most of all, we feel it through our duty and obligation to our role as school board members.
“We write co condemn the vitriolic and personal attacks against district personnel. The responsibility and duty of your board members is to ‘develop and improve through continuous evaluation of the educational program and to provide the best possible educational opportunities for the youth of the district’ and ‘develop and maintain effective communication with the adult community.’ Policies enacted by your board are ultimately the responsibility of your board. Contacting individual members is always appreciated but is simply less effective than communicating with your entire board. If you desire your feedback to be effective, please attend our meetings and express yourself at them.
“Your board has and continues to work diligently to improve our effective communication with our community. We assure you social media is not and will not be our primary source. We welcome public comment that is courteous and focused on issues, not personnel. Concerns about individual employees are to be addressed following policy KLD found on our district website.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=30]
“We do this because we are invested in our district, our community, and the success of our students. Our community has the resources to make our district the best in our state. We call on our community to find the will to value education and support our efforts to improve our educational program.”
The letter is signed by Jelaco and trustees John Bettolo, Max Mickelson, Lenny Hay, George Reedy, Matt Jackman and Stephanie Thompson.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=49 delay=5 max_width=800]
