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Dear members of the board,

Do you really think you can just say what you want, and no one will question your answers? That seems to be your thought process. After my speech, both you, President Seagraves, the most senior member of the board, and you, Superintendent Scanlon, the most senior official in this district, sought to tell me several things: that arts and music have received no cuts, that sports programs have been cut, and that there was no definitive plan, only an application, to put lights in at Rustin’s football field. When you say these things, you engage in distortion or plain-out lying, depending on which statement is in question.  I also must speak out about a clear indication of bias in the way the period of public comment was handled.

First, let’s deal with the outright lie that there have been no cuts to arts and music. The Community Budget Task Force stated that one effect of reducing curriculum proposals would be that “Especially in the unified arts, students may have to share equipment, and the purchasing of new equipment may be delayed.” The curriculum reductions played a key part in the first phase of budget cutting, in both elementary and secondary education. The term “unified arts” applies to such fields as art, music, technology and life skills classes. So, there’s one down. When the school board says they’re not cutting art and music funding, they’re lying.

The rest of the statements of yours are not so much lies as distortions of truth. I stated in my speech that there were no cuts to sports being made. Regrettably, with two minutes only to give my speech, I could not afford the luxury of specificity. Cuts have been made to sports, but not in any major way, or in any way that affects the sports I was talking about, major high school athletics programs. The first round of cuts included reducing intramural sports opportunities, reducing B level freshmen teams’ schedules by two or one games, and not employing teachers to teach sports that aren’t offered. So, when I address costly sports programs that require long hours of travel, long hours of teacher commitment and apparently deserve more teachers per group than any art or music group receives, the school board brushes that off, on the strength of tiny cuts they made to intramural sports, freshmen sports, and not employing people for programs that aren’t offered. The first two are not major discomforts to anyone, the last shouldn’t even be considered a cut because it is such an obvious cut to make, because it serves no purpose and its removal inconveniences no one except those who want to make an incredibly easy extra paycheck. If you want to tear down arguments, you should allow more speaking time for those whose opinions are being criticized, or else you merely have to attack forcibly broad generalizations, an easy task.

Finally, the Rustin football field lights. Yes, there is only an application at this point in time. But I beg you, school board members and officials, look around West Chester. There is a huge sport community here and a large amount of recognition given to the district is due to sports teams. You say that there is only an application, which is true,  but just ask yourself: With so many constituents involved via their children in WCASD sports, and with so much attention paid to our district due to our sports teams, and the fact that the school administration hierarchy here contains many former sports players and active supporters, as do the ranks of teachers, do you really think anyone among you will, in the end, shoot themselves in the foot by attacking a proposal for lights for a football stadium that has none? You must know the answer. As a frequent attendee at board meetings, I have seen the expediency with which 99% of issues are voted on and passed. With the aforementioned reasons in mind, do you think the same will not occur when it comes time for you to vote on this issue? Not only is it mostly uncontroversial, like that 99% of other subjects that come, pass, and go, but it also has a wide base of support and is easy to understand, unlike other more technocratic measures passed in that fashion, and is therefore likely to move through all required phases even faster than minor adjustments on budget, staff, contracts, or curriculum already do.     

Finally, a note on a very clear and worrying bias on display during the public comment period: it is plainly obvious on the sign-up sheet and on the agenda packet, as well as by the comments of the board, that public comments can be no more than two minutes. Yet, during my presence at that same period last night, the clock was extended only once, for a senior citizen advocating drastic cuts of the budget. The timer actually went off, and the woman in charge of running it proceeded to reset it, indicating a clear bias in favor of anti-student policies by at least some of the board. Another senior, advocating a poll of teachers in the audience, was only lightly reprimanded during her speech, while I was addressed condescendingly after I finished speaking by your two most senior officials of the district who proceeded with the aforementioned lies and distortions.

It is all too clear who this board favors. In the words of Sue Tiernan, “seniors, retirees, and Republicans.” It is time that this school board remember exactly what it is: a SCHOOL board. When students have no voice, it ceases to be function as such. And honestly, this is West Chester, a town ranked among the top-50 best places to live IN THE COUNTRY. Seniors aren’t being evicted from their homes; this is West Chester, not West Philadelphia. Let’s not destroy creative education for the false complaints of lying seniors about a non-existent problem. But those complaints are handy when you’re looking for an excuse to gut public education, like this school board is. And they can’t even pretend it’s on principle that they’re doing it. John Wingerter is a co-founder of PA Leadership Charter School, which is partially funded by WCASD, and until his election, he held a key post on the board, and even now he holds a major advisory post. Having once been an applicant to several of PALCS’s programs, I can tell you that a major part of their student body are gifted and creative students alienated by lack of gifted and creative education at their schools. But Mr. Wingerter, you will claim this isn’t a big deal. Think for yourself. With every dollar they cut for arts, more students from West Chester will go to PALCS. Do you think we don’t realize you know this?

Your school board is full of liars, political opportunists, and one particularly corrupt man. So far, West Chester has done little in the way of fighting this gutting of public education, done for gross political and personal gain. So, to citizens, taxpayers, students, will you sit back and let liars piggyback liars to destroy public education, or will you fight it? This is a wake-up notice to you, the school board, and to your supporters. The people you supposedly represent in part, students, are more and more realizing what scum you are. So are other supposed constituents of yours. You can make every attempt to silence our voices, by lying, by giving more time to those whose opinions work for you, by keeping rules penalizing free speech in schools on the books, and by many other forms. You are just another example of how this country hates common rights, and will trample on democracy to achieve your anti-equality goals. But students, teachers, and parents are fighting back. Next time you come up for re-election, should I still be in West Chester, rest assured that my vote will join in the growing number of votes bound to end your opportunism and corruption at the next chance.