Happy Connerton Parent Responds to Criticism, Complaints

My children are both very happy to go to school every day and love their teachers at Connorton (Mr. Biz and Mrs. Dawkins, both excellent, enthusiastic teachers and NEITHER is anywhere near a "first year teacher"). My daughter had the unfortunate experience of being humiliated by her teacher in the name of "discipline" the first week of school. Anna and Wendy took time to listen to me and my daughter and they took care of it promptly. They made sure my daughter felt safe in coming to them for any reason, made sure the counselor helped her with any lingering concerns and they moved her to another classroom where she is nurtured and has absolutely flourished! Fortunately, that teacher was removed from the school mid-year after other students complained of the same harsh treatment, so I know my experience wasn't unique. Kudos to whoever made that happen (and I'm glad to see she isn't one of the protestors because that would be horribly hypocritical of her).

After reading what I am gathering is that there two unhappy former employees complaining about being let go and how awful it was to be there (if it was that bad, why complain so much about losing your job?). Their concerns could be valid, however, there are two sides to every story and I want to hear BOTH of them before I join in the public stoning that seems to be brewing. Frankly, I don't know many people who have been let got that speak highly of former employers so, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to take their opinions with a grain of salt.

It's always painful/humiliating/heartbreaking to lose a job, whether the reason was valid or not and for that they do have my sympathy. I'm also reading about handful of unhappy parents that feel like the concerns they had about their children where not handled properly. Again, two sides to every story... things get complicated and emotional very quickly when people get upset about a perceived injustice done to their children-not judging, I'm absolutely a momma bear when it comes to my babies, as you will undoubtedly see below. But, because of how highly my children think of their school, their teachers and how enthusiastic they are about both, I am not willing to make any judgement calls until I hear both sides of the story... And I feel that is very reasonable.

HOWEVER, I do, strongly, feel that this group crossed a line when they involved not only MY children but all of the children in Connorton in their protest. My children where fearful and concerned. They perceived this as an attack on their school (why do those people think our school is bad? is one question in a minefield of them). Whether this "protest" or "gathering" was legal or not my children saw adults BULLYING their way in to being heard because they didn't get the results the wanted doing it the right way. You can call it "Protesting" or "Gathering" but holding signs up calling another person names (Bully) at her place of employment IS at it's core, bullying. And guess what? My kids can read. They know bullying when they see and read it. I wouldn't tolerate that behavior in my children, legally allowed or not. But you know what, truth be told if my kids weren't so upset by it, I would shrug, read the article, quietly wonder (see above) because of my completely opposite experience with these women and this school and move on. But that this group chose to do this in front of children, not just mine, but the entire school is completely inexcusable, in my opinion. Shame on the adults that found this to be appropriate in front of an elementary school during school hours! File your grievances with the adults and boards involved, contact the press and/or protest at a school board meeting, but for crying out loud leave the children out of it.

And to the people who feel a police escort was over the top, I would like to know, when is the last time someone stood outside YOUR work with a sign calling YOU names? I'd remove my children from the property and ask for a police escort, too. The bottom line is my children have been happy, enthusiastic and educated very well in Connorton and I am more than willing to give Anna (and Wendy- FWIW, Calling her a henchmen was immature, uncalled for and the epitome of bullying, in my opinion) the benefit of the doubt.

Jennifer Broderick