In the Sun Journal’s coverage of last week’s School Administrative District 52 board meeting, the reporter included a quotation from director Jaime Johnson which insinuated that the board’s deliberations on revising Policy IJJ Selection of Educational Materials has damaged the administrators’ and teachers’ trust in the board.

SAD 52 definitely has a trust issue, but it isn’t that one. It’s the public’s trust it needs to worry about.

Missing from the article was any mention of loss of trust of the more than 500 signatories to a petition to the board who asked it to set sexually explicit content outside the selection criteria. The signatories are members of the community — liberals and conservatives, professionals and blue collar, librarians and homemakers, new parents and grandparents.

Their trust in the schools has been squandered by administrators and the board members who act as their cheerleaders and enablers, who have gaslighted the community on this issue repeatedly for well over a year. They tell us there are no such materials in the schools, then loudly bemoan the fact they’ll have to take out all of the sexually explicit material if the board adopts stricter standards.

The article also failed to mention that several of the district’s policies, including the computer and internet use policies for both students and teachers, already prohibit sexually explicit materials. The reporter failed to mention that some board members pointed that out, when others on the board argued that the term was too vague.

How will the board restore our trust?

Christine Duplissis, Leeds

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