Superintendent: Indoctrination Accusations Unfounded

A Merrimack father and blogger on conservative blog GraniteGrok is alleging a conspiracy of political indoctrination and bullying among Merrimack High School teachers who he says are lobbying for the re-election of the president.

However, Steve MacDonald, who says he has evidence to support his claims, has yet to contact the high school, the superintendent or the school board and ask them to look into it. Instead, he took to the blogosphere to air his assertions, and he threatens to blow the whistle on the teachers he claims are doing this if they don't stop by Monday, Oct. 22.

He says in his blog, which he posted on GraniteGrok and Merrimack Patch, that he has "reports" from students at the school and has been collecting "data" for two months, but has been doing so quietly to protect the students who've given him information.

He says students at the school have confirmed this is happening but they don't want to say anything because they like and respect the teachers and don't want them to “get in trouble.”

“I have reports of posters, temporary messages encouraging students to assist a single campaign – with contact info, and then the typical teacher injecting their own preferences into the class discussion on an almost daily basis, also known as biased propagandizing and political indoctrination on the taxpayer dime,” MacDonald wrote in the blog.

He said there is little to no balance from these teachers and claims it's making students uncomfortable.

But Superintendent Marge Chiafery and School Board Chairman Chris Ortega both say this is the first they'd heard of anything of this nature happening at school.

“At the moment, I haven't had anyone say anything to me about this topic until it came forward today,” Chiafery said in a phone interview on Thursday evening.

Chiafery said to her knowledge no one, not even MacDonald, has brought these concerns forward to the school or anyone in the school district with a request to investigate.

Chiafery said it's possible, especially in the days following debates and other significant political moments that classes may talk about the candidates and the issues, but she would expect that teachers would not inject their own beliefs into the discussions.

However, to MacDonald's claim that “there is a very biased, one-sided, pro-Obama campaign movement running through several classrooms in the Merrimack High School,” Chiafery said she has “no inkling” of anything of that sort happening.

In fact, she said the only political appearances made at school in this election cycle were during the primary when Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum made visits to MHS.

What's frustrating to her, Chiafery said, is that if this is a legitimate concern from a parent, she would expect that parent would bring their concerns to the teacher, Principal Ken Johnson or herself.

“I would investigate anything if I was given any information, but if I'm not given it, there's not much I can do,” Chiafery said. “I don't know the who's who or the what's what. Who? What class? When is this happening?”

She said if a parent doesn't feel comfortable approaching a teacher or the principal, she's there to listen to their concerns.

"I don't see the merit in [turning to social media] without giving us a chance to address the issue," she said.

Ortega shared the same sentiments and said he would encourage MacDonald or anyone with similar concerns to contact the proper channels to help determine if something is amiss.

“There's no specifics, this person hasn't tried to get something corrected through normal channels and instead is venting online about it,” Ortega said.

Ortega said he was contacted by another parent who'd read MacDonald's blog and said this was news to them and if they'd heard of such behavior they would have been quite upset and contacted someone about it immediately.

When contacted by Patch and asked why he hadn't contacted administration or the school board about his concerns, MacDonald said he is “not interested in meetings, interviews or missing work to talk to administrators or to ask for agenda items at school board meetings.”

“My kids don't care all that much. It's almost like a running joke because some union teachers are a bit too 'enthusiastic' about their politics and I'm a conservative blogger at GraniteGrok,” MacDonald said. “My kids ask questions, I give them my side, and if they want to talk about it we do. They are not getting indoctrinated. But there are other students who will be and that is not the place for it.

“My goal is simple. Make a loud noise. Get their attention. Remind them that it is happening, and intentional or not that they need to be mindful of it....oh, and to please stop.”

While it would be unethical, Ortega said, there is no specific school policy he knows of against teachers espousing their political beliefs in the classroom because there isn't precedent, he said.

If in fact there is a concern, it's not a prevalent concern because it's nothing I've heard before,” Ortega said.

Ortega said policy is implemented to address something the school district does or does not want to occur and policy is created judiciously so as not to micromanage.

“I don't see a systemic issue, and I'm not even aware of an individual problem here,” Ortega said. “Without specifics or an official complaint there isn't something to investigate.”