Letter to the Editor

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Letter to the Editor:October 26, 2022

My name is John Dunn and I have lived in Chelsea since 1964, my wife Anna and I have raised four great kids in this town with our youngest graduating this past June (2022). We just finished 30 consecutive years with at least one child in the Chelsea school system. In addition, me, my wife, all four of my children, four siblings, three nephews, and even my grandfather in 1914 have all graduated from CHS! I say this with a humble, grateful heart that NO family has benefitted more from our experience in the Chelsea School District than my family. Culminating last fall with our son and his awesome teammates and coaches winning the Division 4 State Football Championship at Ford Field in historic fashion!! They showed our town, our state (and beyond) what a team of strong individual young men can accomplish when they selflessly come together as a TEAM with a common goal and never give up!

The Chelsea School District has many great teachers and coaches, and, keeping things in perspective, the positives currently outweigh the recent concerns in our district. However, I firmly do not support the trend and direction our school district is heading (as are most public schools), and it has been trending this way for years; even prior to Covid. Our past Superintendent changed our schools and, in my opinion, not for the better. She brought an Ann Arbor public schools’ mindset and has pushed a progressive/political ideology into our schools. When an educator becomes a political or social influencer, they have failed! Her collectivism and lead from behind management style has not been how our very successful school district has historically been run! Multiple past administrators have told me that they’ve seen the decline in Chelsea schools in the last 5 years; test scores are down, enrollment is at a 25 year low (and dropping!), and our community and our schools have never been more divided. Per a current school administrator, upwards of 200 families have now left the Chelsea School District. This is an unbelievable and very sad statistic! Losing these families does nothing but weaken our school district. Yet, our school board celebrated this Superintendent and padded her contract and retirement package on the way out the door. A leadership change is needed on our school board before more families leave Chelsea schools!

To the Chelsea community, we have a very important election coming up November 8th. It will determine the direction of Chelsea schools for many years to come. Our school board needs balance to give our new Superintendent, Mike Kapolka, the flexibility to do his job as the top educator in our district. My family and I strongly support the hiring of Mike Kapolka. He is a fine man that will do a good job IF the school board gives him the flexibility, support, and authority to stand up and push back on issues that are political at their core and go too far, which there are quite a few and I’m sure more on the way. We have local control over most of our curriculum! We need leadership that is willing to stand up and respect parental rights and do the right thing for ALL students in our district.

With that said, most of you know the following school board candidates that will be on the ballot November 8th. It’s no secret that these two groups have differing ideological beliefs for the direction of our schools. I’d like to put them in their respective group and ask the community to consider some important questions:

Group A: Julie Mallie, Tom Golding, Ross Greenstein, John Piatt

Group B: Kate Henson, Glenn Fox, Michelle Craig, Scott Moore

Do you believe the innocence of our young children should be protected at all costs? If so, vote for Group A.
Do you believe that our children, as young as early elementary, should be exposed to sexual content in sexually explicit books currently in our schools? If so, vote for Group B.
Do you believe under Proposal 3 that children should be allowed to obtain abortions, sterilization, puberty blockers, and sex change surgery without parental knowledge or consent? If so, Vote B (proudly supported on social media by 3 of the Group B candidates).
Do you believe in protecting parental rights to make critical health decisions for their children (see issues in #3)? If so, Vote A.
Do you believe our children should be taught how to think? If so, Vote for A.
Do you believe our children should be taught what to think? If so, Vote for B.
Do you believe our school district should value the merits of each unique individual and encourage and challenge them to reach their potential? If so, vote for Group A.
Do you believe in the dehumanizing and discriminatory trend of so called “social justice” and “multicultural diversity” which judges individuals not as individuals, but as members of a group and which pits one group against other competing groups in divisive power struggles (i.e., what’s going on in our schools and community today!)? If so, vote for Group B.
Do you believe our students should be taught a class in civics or a class in social justice? If you believe civics, vote for Group A. if you believe social justice, vote for Group B.
Do you believe we should have genderless bathrooms in our schools?? If NO, vote for Group A. If yes, vote for Group B.
Do you believe that title IX, and the awesome gains made by our female athletes, should be protected at all costs? If so, vote for Group A.
Do you believe that title IX should be rewritten so that a male identifying as a female can compete in women’s sports? If so, vote for Group B.
Do you want school board members that will lead from the front and return Chelsea to being a cut above the rest? If so, vote for Group A.
Do you want school board members to lead from behind and continue the negative trend in test scores and enrollment? If so, vote for Group B.
Do you support keeping politics out of our schools and shift our focus to academic excellence, equality, and belonging (i.e., Bulldog Pride)? If so, vote for Group A.
Do you support progressive, Marxist/socialist political ideologies infiltrating our schools at every level and, effectively, trying to indoctrinate our children in this belief system? If so, vote for Group B.
Do you believe in the Pledge of Allegiance as written? If so, vote for Group A.
Do you believe in a Pledge of Allegiance something like this: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Socialist States of America and to the social democracy* for which I stand, a divided nation, under secularism, with liberty and justice for those that comply? If so, Vote for B. (* note, we are a Constitutional Republic!).
Are you OK with upwards of 200 families pulling their kids from Chelsea schools? If so, Vote B.
If you’re not OK with upwards of 200 families pulling their kids from Chelsea schools, please Vote A and let’s try to get these kids that live in Chelsea back in Chelsea schools making our district stronger!!

As the evil socialist Adolf Hitler once said, “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.” All these controversial issues are using public schools to turn our children into godless, gender neutral, social justice warriors; all of this is political and a gross overreach by gov.edu! The biggest mistake ever made in our country was turning over education to the Government because it has become politicized, filled with bureaucracy, and the quality of education has been diminished, all at the expense of our children! And here we are in 2022 moving to a whole new level!

If we all teach our children to connect with one another on a human-to-human level; treat people how you want to be treated, love your neighbor like you love yourself, and (thank you Dr. King) judge people not by the color of their skin, their religion, or their sexual orientation, but on the content of their character, all of this goes away and we can focus on academic excellence which I thought was the reason we send our kids to school!. The only reason why it is being promoted is for political power and future control over our children. They are disrespecting parental rights and using our children causing disorder, distraction, confusion, and eventual harm to many children. Remember this, it may not seem like that big of a deal now, but they are just getting started. Once these controversial issues are in the schools, they will continue to expand. The trojan horse is in the building!

In closing, I look forward to getting this election behind us November 8th
so that our community has clarity on the direction our schools are heading so that families can make critical educational decisions for their children. I have written this letter because I would like to see my grandchildren in Chelsea schools; right now, they are not. For at least 200 families, this may be the Alamo for Chelsea schools, mine included. Seek the truth, live not by lies, and please get out and vote!

Sincerely,

John F Dunn

P.S. All eight of these candidates are good people and should be respected as such. To Kate, Glenn, Michelle, and Scott, this is not personal for me! To those of you in the community that have attacked school board member(s) and/or any of these candidates on social media, shame on YOU! This is not a poor reflection on any one of these school board member(s) or candidates, it is poor reflection on YOU and needs to STOP!