The Columbia Public Schools (CPS) Board of Education (BOE) held its monthly meeting Dec. 11. The BOE’s agenda allocated time for people to address policy concerns. Two speakers shared policy proposals during this time.
Community engagement
RBHS junior Sadra Aliakbarpor proposed a four-day week, a policy already adopted by some Mo. schools. He told the BOE the current fifth day of the week is going to waste and by removing it, students would better respond to instruction during the week.
CPS parent Jamie Loyd expressed her concerns surrounding the field trip waiver and said the waiver allowed the district too much control over the students. She told the BOE that she and other parents wanted it changed to more accurately reflect parent concerns.
Public comment
CPS teacher Kenneth Storla and CPS parent and teacher Teresa Gooch both spoke during the public comment time, they each had three minutes to speak. Storla explained the recent violence seen at Lange Middle School and told the BOE to “not let the students slip through the cracks of a broken system.” He urged the BOE to hold students to a higher standard when holding them accountable.
Gooch requested the BOE pay more attention to the safety of the coaches of the sporting teams within CPS. “I’m here tonight to step up for our coaches [because of parents’ anger towards coaches and students], this isn’t limited to Kewpie football, it’s across the district, across sports, it’s a nationwide epidemic,” Gooch said. “Few coaches don’t have a story about a culture of hateful emails, parents who choose not to support reasonable team expectations and instead tell hard-working coaches that they don’t and parents who plan meetings when they don’t like the outcomes.”
CMNEA protest
Before the BOE meeting started, teachers and students stood outside with signs advocating for safer schools showing support for Columbia Missouri National Education Association (CMNEA). Hickman High School (HHS) senior and president of Students for Change Karli Jones came to the board meeting along with other members of Students for Change to support the teacher’s union in their efforts to address student violence.
“We also came to support our educators and their initiatives because they have always supported us,” Jones said. “Teacher voices are just as important to the issue of school safety.”
HHS and Battle High School (BHS) Japanese teacher Shawn Beatty, who has taught for CPS for over 11 years, said he attended the BOE meeting to support the union and its advocacy for safer schools. CPS tested a weapons detection system at HHS on Dec. 11 and they plan to extend it to other CPS high schools.
“We would like safe schools,” Beatty said. “It seems like the district hasn’t done much to make us hit that trial run at Hickman last spring, you might recall, and then nothing until now.”
The teachers and students at the BOE meeting wore black as a form of protest and their signs said “Educators for safe schools.” CMNEA president Noel Gilzow told the BOE that when she sent out a survey to the CMNEA, 70% of the 750 members said they had been verbally assaulted during school hours in the past two years.
The board didn’t directly respond to these concerns at this meeting.
“Students for Change fully supports the teachers union in their efforts to address student violence,” Jones said. “We believe that decreasing student violence and increasing mental health is a
crucial next step in improving school security. We also want all staff and students safe.”
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