Although the requests of 144 community members for a Town Hall Meeting were callously ignored by Board Chair Noble, Principal Bowerman, Superintendent Walker and the rest of the power structure, there reportedly will be a Constituency Meeting in June (according to the Board Chairperson’s May 5 release). Date? Time? Location? Format? No one knows. But it is now up to you, the students, teachers, parents, and alumni of SAA, and most importantly, you members of Spencerville SDA Church as the sole governing constituents to demand answers, accountability, and changes at the school board and administration levels to ensure that things do not return to the old order of the status quo.
We urge a new infusion of democracy and of new leadership in the school board chair and executive committee, some of whom we believe have been in place for up to an entire generation (no one really knows because the list is secret). The school board must no longer be an exclusive club serving as the handmaiden of the administration and the tool of the CC, but a legitimate entity unto itself that is openly and democratically selected (not quietly screened and groomed by the board chair, principal, and pastor in back rooms) to directly engage the concerns of SAA students, teachers, and parents; and then also to serve as an effective representative check and balance on the SAA administration.
Who will be brave and courageous enough to step up and fight for these changes?