Dear Sirs,
According to an article in Tuesday’s Jan. 11, 2022, Mountain Mail, both Buena Vista Superintendent Lisa Yates, and Principal Jon Ail will be “guest speakers” this Friday for a gathering of the Chaffee County Patriots. Their stated questions could be seen as an attempt to intimidate our public school leaders.
Chaffee County Patriots is a closed group that, according to the Ark Valley Voice Sept. 10, 2020, is a hate group with membership criteria stated as including “the willingness of its members to arm themselves and be ready to defend their values.”
Ark Valley Voice further learned that Chaffee Patriots social media “is filled with right-wing memes advocating violence and hatred, disinformation, and expressions of threatening attitudes to those moderates and liberals with whom they apparently disagreed.”
As a citizen of Chaffee County, I expect that our school officials avoid aligning themselves with partisan political gatherings and groups.
Sincerely,
Mary Roberts
Salida
I spoke with the Superintendent’s office about this, stating concerns that I was hearing. The representative in the Superintendent’s office said that District leaders are frequently asked to various meetings, and that it is their policy to meet with groups that are interested in asking questions and a discussion. Any member of the community is able to ask to review the curriculum and meet with District leaders. District leaders believe in transparency and working with the parents and community. I was very impressed with the information I received, including this: BV School District has an excellent reputation for quality education, exposure to a variety of activities and programs, and their teachers are respected and well liked. They don’t feel there is any real foundation for anyone being able to say negative or accusatory remarks about the District. In truth, they did not see this meeting as different than any other group they are invited to speak to. And, this particular meeting is not a closed meeting, as it was published in the Chaffee Times; the questions were also published. It is at the Catholic church. I would encourage anyone who has concerns or wants to observe or participate to show up at the meeting. And, if a few people decide they WILL go and will post that, I will also attend, but I only want to go if there is a larger group. Agreeing with Jim Hight above: do not post critical and demeaning remarks about THIS group meeting. Attend and observe.
There’s nothing wrong with listening to the opinions of these self-appointed “Patriots”, but shouldn’t it be the case that they come to a regular school board meeting instead of summoning the school board to one of their little pity parties?
There’s no need to talk about critical race theory, because critical race theory isn’t being taught to K-12 students anywhere in America. The real goal of Republicans is to erase the history of slavery in America, and they’ll do anything to achieve that goal. You don’t have to wonder why anyone would be so opposed to teaching about the horrors of slavery and systemic racism….it’s not a puzzle to suss out the real motivations behind the actions of modern-day Republicans who want to pretend that slavery or the Jim Crow era ever existed.
It’s hard to respect anyone who is willing to bow and scrape before the most regressive members of society, but I guess this is another example of how it really does matter who you vote for, all the way down to the level of your local school board.
I would encourage these school board members to fail to attend, but whatever happens, it’s important to remember that Chaffee county voted for Biden, and that the Chaffee County “Patriots” are just a small group of loudmouths who don’t represent anyone other than the members of their own sad little group of what I am sure is mostly fat white male boomers.
Attend the meeting and decide for yourself rather than making and spreading judgments based on what they post on social media. Many of my left leaning friends post hateful stuff about the right constantly. That doesn’t make them violent or threatening.
So the meeting is open to the public?
Please tell me why would public officials are going to a closed meeting of an apparently right wing closed group with prepared questions. Why aren’t the superintendent and principal having an open meeting with all citizens invited? A Town Hall style of meeting. I do not think anything of any good that can come from a closed meeting by people with their own agenda. Are back room deals being made. DO they want the school district to ban certain books. Let’s talk about critical race theory.
Hopeful,
Charles Witt
Buena Vista