Hypocrisy is alive and well in the Gray New Gloucester School District as evidenced by the inaction of district officials to support a middle school student who was verbally attacked and bullied by resource teacher, Ann Cook. Her behavior certainly falls far below the Districts vision outlined in the newly released Strategic Plan, as does the handling of the situation by District officials.
Rather it is teachers like Ann Cook and weak kneed leaders that create a hostile learning environment for our children. One in which children find it difficult to learn because teachers like Ann Cook foster and perpetuate intolerance when faced with an opposing viewpoint. Ann Cook is a disgrace. In addition, she inappropriately exceeded her place when she went on to discuss her own sexuality with this child.
The Districts newly released Strategic Plan indicates a vision of establishing a healthy, caring environment; one that is committed to the development of compassionate thinkers where individuals are honored. The plan goes on to describe a district that hopes to “become a beacon of excellence that others look to as a model of how school districts should be run.”
In my experience I find repeatedly that leftists who scream the loudest for tolerance and inclusion are the least able to achieve it. Ann Cook is a prime example of this. She insults this child’s parents as being uneducated and susceptible to propaganda simply because they hold differing political beliefs. After listening to the entirety of the audio of Ann attacking this child I can confidently and sadly say that Ann Cook is the one that has fallen prey to propagandists.
As a former School Board member I feel the district had an opportunity to honor their vision when the parents of this student contacted Principal Benoit about the behavior of Ann Cook toward their child. Instead of standing by their goal of creating schools that are “safe, nurturing and responsive to the social and emotional well-being of everyone”, the district took no action against this teacher. In doing so they failed their own goals, but most importantly they failed this child and his family and create a situation in which the entirety of the community also suffers. This teacher should be fired immediately and the District should issue an apology to the student, his parents and the entire community.
*This is a guest post by Dorene Libby. The views expressed are those of Dorene Libby, and not endorsed by the New Gloucester GOP. The New Gloucester GOP supports the right of individuals to submit guest blog posts freely, and without censorship. If you are interested in sharing an article, or post please send all submissions to newgloucestergop@gmail.com
I endorse Dorene Libby's post about Ann Cook. I would go further and say that government schools are destroying the United States of America.