Parent Letter Addressing November 20th
Published on Sunday, November 22, 2009
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I would like to inform you of the incident that occurred at Cape Cod Technical High School on Friday, November 20, 2009. On this day students had planned a peaceful demonstration to voice their concerns in regards to policy, discipline, and lack of respect.
We advised teachers of this demonstration and planned to allow students to leave the classroom for first period. I then addressed the students and asked the Junior Class President to also address the students. Afterwhich, we offered students an opportunity to write down their concerns in notebooks provided. I informed them that I would collect the notebooks and review them over the weekend. We encouraged students to return to class to continue their normal day. A large proportion did follow suit.
Some students did not feel like this was enough. They wanted to stand up and speak. This was granted to several students until one student used obscene language. Students were then asked again to return to class. Seeing that the demonstration was no longer productive, many students cooperated with the request. As we continued to encourage students to return to class, a small group of about twenty decided that they would stay. Thus, students were losing out on their learning opportunities. The remainder of this demonstration was not conducive to their education. As principal, this is one of my main job duties. Therefore, I felt the two options were for students were to return to class or be sent home via suspension.
I feel very strongly that it is the student’s job to learn. They are responsible and accountable for this process. We eventually had all but six of our students return to their scheduled classes. This small number shows that the student body understands what their obligations are.
Three things that I hope comes out of this are that:
- Students know that we feel that they are important.
- That their safety and education is our main job.
- When safety and education are compromised we need to stabilize the environment so that we can carry out those functions.
I have instructed faculty and staff that Monday is a fresh start for our students. We will be moving forward not looking back.
I will be holding a Parent Meeting on Monday, November 23, 2009 at 6:00 pm. This meeting will discuss the events that led up to and including Friday, November 20th, as well as the school’s plans on what we will do in the future. I will also present my evaluation of the student’s concerns as presented on November 20th. If you seek information about this, I ask that you attend Monday’s meeting.
Sincerely,
William Terranova
Principal