Editor:
While aghast, I was not surprised to hear the Oley Valley community member’s comments about Antietam School District students, nor the response from one of the school directors, nor the cautioning, “careful” from another (“Resident’s comments on students condemned,” Reading Eagle, Dec. 14). People feel emboldened to make harmful statements when they think they are in the presence of like-minded individuals. Someone said the quiet part out loud.
Oley Valley School District Superintendent Dr. Gina Finnerty also spoke out loud and very clearly, condemning the statements that othered our Antietam neighbors. She exhibited leadership, though she is not the only one in a leadership position.
School directors must lead the board to fulfill its mission and vision. The final sentence of the district’s vision statement reads as follows:
“The Oley Valley School District also commits to embracing diversity and individuality within the context of mutual respect and understanding to empower our students to become responsible, contributing citizens in a global society.”
If there are school directors engaging in behavior antithetical to this vision statement, then they should step down. If there are school directors who are unwilling to lead the district to make this vision a reality, then they should step down.
Aligning — vocally or by remaining silent — with harmful language directed at schoolchildren is complicity.
My New Year’s wish for the members of the Oley Valley School Board is for them to take extreme care in enacting policies and voicing perspectives that fulfill the mission and vision of the school, especially the final sentence.
Jennifer Schlegel
Oley Township
Source: Berkshire mont