Letter to the editor: former school employee

Letter To the Editor:

This letter is in response to numerous letters and articles submitted to the DCI regarding the bullying issue that is plaguing the KM School District, I have kept still til now....but the more I read of courageous and concerned former district employees coming forward, the more I feel led to come forward also and, stand with them. You see, I too am a "survivor" of "the good ol boys" tribe of bullies. I worked for the District as a para in the middle school for almost four years....I know that doesn't seem like a long time, but trust me, those years seem like a lifetime when you endure the kind of poor treatment that I, as well as many others, received from our administration. I also hope that by my letter, joined with the others who have already written in, that those other silent voices will also speak up and share their stories.....there are many more out there. I won't bore you with the long version of my story....but I will tell you that I claimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2010 as my day of freedom. After resigning, I made a couple of visits to the middle school...two visits in a two week period to be exact. While there, I did not disrupt classrooms, but did greet students, who were under my care during my years as an employee, while they were having lunch or passing me in the hallway. As I was leaving after the second visit, I was stopped and told by Alan Hodge that I couldn't be there.....that seemed really odd to me considering that I am a parent of a student in this building......so I went to Peter Grant. Mr. Grant informed me that Mr. Hodge was right in telling me that I couldn't be there....he went on to tell me that I had to limit my visits to once a month or once every other month, and that I was being a nuisance.....yes....you read that right. In the student handbook, it clearly states that parents, as long as they sign in and wear a visitor’s badge, are welcome anytime. I guess this isn't the case anymore. As a parent, this concerns me, not that I don't have trust or respect for our teachers and support staff (who by the way are wonderful and dedicated professionals with our students’ best interests truly at heart), but because a healthy parent/teacher team effort is crucial in a student's education. One would think that instead of limiting our parental visits to school, that we would be encouraged to visit as often as we can. After my visit with Mr. Grant, I took my story to a school board member. He seemed surprised at the time about what I told him and said that how I was treated didn't seem right, he would investigate it and get back to me.....weeks went by with no follow up. A few more months went by before I saw this school board member out in the public sector and asked him about what he found out.....funny....you would have sworn I had a deadly contagious disease because he power walked away from me so fast, that all I could see was nothing but air under his feet and a vapor trail behind him as he mumbled something inaudible under his breath........... He didn't even wait long enough for me to tell him that he left his spine back in the High School Music Room where the board holds its meetings. (I think that the board members are required to check their spines at the door or whenever Mr. Grant is around....and tie on their puppet strings.) For many of us, Peter's puppet show stopped being funny long ago.

Seriously now.....The board has asked the public for funds to provide some remodeling projects to our District's facilities...The last referendum failed miserably, Kasson/Mantorville residents spoke loud and clear.....and I think that before the school board worries about remodeling any of our facilities that they need to look at remodeling our administration....if they are unable to accomplish that, then I am sure the public will be looking into remodeling our school board.....tax free.

                Silent no more,
                Sheri Lorentz