Letter: School Committee’s Priority Should Be Safety Of Children

The following letter was sent to the Regional School Committee and the Superintendency Union 26 Committee on May 14, 2023.,

I find this Mother’s Day to be a particularly apt day to strongly voice the importance of appointing an appropriate interim superintendent.

The School Committee has an opportunity and a responsibility to restore faith in its ability to carry out its vital mission. Appointing Doreen Cunningham, a current target of a Title IX investigation, would absolutely be a giant step in the wrong direction. The only pathway to restoring trust and faith is to make every possible choice that favors transparency and impartiality.

While I also empathize with Michael Morris’ situation, at the end of the day he is a grown adult who was in a primary leadership role, who at best somehow missed giant red flags.  My concern, as should be everyone’s, is for the safety and wellbeing of the children damaged by dreadful failures in a system meant to protect them. In its most recent statement the school committee still continues to miss the point – that protecting students and their ability to learn is the number one priority. Applauding Michael Morris at this time should not be the “first and foremost” concern of the School Committee.

It’s time to make substantive changes in the administration now, before any further damage is done. The only clear choice is to appoint proven impartial and trusted leadership, and Doreen Cunningham is verifiably not that. The School Committee must be laser focused on what went wrong. It must identify the individuals responsible – not just the ones directly working with our kids but the ones responsible for hiring those people. There is no room in this pivotal moment for a rush to hire an inappropriate person. Strong effective leadership by the School Committee is within reach. Please do the right thing.  

Sheilah Jones

Sheilah Jones is a resident of Amherst.