On Aug. 24 the Shawnee Mission School District (SMSD) held a listening session at Shawnee Mission West so the community could express their feelings to the Board of Education (BOE) regarding the district’s Aug. 18 decision to begin the 2020-21 school year remotely and place a temporary suspension on sports.
Following the listening session, two different groups of SMSD students, parents and teachers gathered in front of the Center for Academic Achievement (CAA) to protest or support the BOE decision before their scheduled Aug. 24 board meeting.
A majority of the attendants were brought together a few days prior through SMSD parents Elizabeth Goebel and Angela Gantzer’s Facebook Group — “Open Our Schools.”
According to the “Open Our Schools” Facebook Group message, their protest to SMSD’s decision was open to any students, parents, coaches or teachers in the district who wish for school to reopen in-person and for school sports to continue. Masks and social distancing were heavily encouraged for all.
After hearing friends seek counseling for their children’s mental health and through personal experience, Goebel — a parent of both former and current SMSD students — took action in organizing the protest.
“I have personally seen the negative impact that school closing has had on our children,” Goebel said. “Things like depression, anxiety skyrocketing and isolation. These kids are just home alone all the time and it’s totally unacceptable.”
Goebel also advocated for students who are depending on the upcoming school year for academic and athletic opportunities.
“If you are a junior and you are going to go back as a senior this year and have worked your entire little-kid life to go and play football so you can be scouted, but now you don’t get to be scouted and you can’t go to college, that impacts the entire trajectory of [your life],” Goebel said.
At the protest, parents and students of all ages held signs with messages including, “Let us Play,” “I want to learn” and “Mental Health Matters.” Athletes on football teams from Shawnee Mission East, Northwest and South dressed in their uniforms to emphasize their desire to play.
According to seniors on Shawnee Mission East’s football team, they feel the team is taking the necessary safety precautions and should get a chance to play this season, even if it looks different than years prior.
“I truly believe that we should have a season,” East senior football player, Preston Reynolds said. “We wear our masks to practice, don’t share water bottles or anything like that and we sanitize. We don’t care if there are fans [at our games] or not, we just want to play.”
Parents like Tiffany Johnson protested because of their concern toward balancing work and child care.
“We’ve created a society for elementary kids aged five to 12 where school is essential,” Johnson said. “Essentially we use [school] for both education and child care, so taking that away, you take away our ability to work. I am an intensive care nurse and I can’t work from home. If I quit working, then who is there to take care of all of these people?”
While the “Open Our Schools” protestors chanted and held their signs, a smaller group of SMSD parents, students and teachers welcomed the BOE to their meeting with signs that read “Thank You SMSD for Your Leadership” and “Safe Students and Safe Teachers.”
The “Support the SMSD Board” Facebook Group was created last week by SMSD teacher Tammy Mathieson and the wife of another SMSD teacher who chose to have their real name withheld for anonymity, (Alice James.)
“I just wanted to come out and show the board that I have supported their decision,” *James said. “I knew that there would be a lot of people that would come out and say they didn’t agree with it, so I just wanted them to know that there were [supporters].”
According to their Facebook Group, the community was encouraged to show support for the BOE as they made the decision to suspend sports and begin the year virtually. For those who could not attend the gathering due to health concerns, #SMSDGotItRight was started to show solidarity with the district over social media.
Hocker Grove Art teacher Alyssa Passmore was one of the few people to speak at the listening session in support of the BOE’s decision.
Instead of criticizing SMSD’s decision, Passmore spent her three minutes at the podium thanking the board for their tough decision despite the pushback they are receiving.
“I thank you for making a decision that allowed me to sleep at night and ease my anxiety,” Passmore said in her speech to the BOE. “I don’t have to come to terms that I could die or kill my students or their families when the community’s spread is of monumental levels.”
Both Passmore and *James want the community to know that most teachers are for the idea of remote learning not because they are lazy or want to retire, but because they care about the well being of their students.
“I’m just really scared that there will be a whole generation that says ‘okay, let’s go back [to school] and do everything,’ but then 10 to 15 years down the road they are having a lot of health issues,” *James said.
According to *James, without enough COVID-19 testing available, the best way to move forward is through the plan SMSD is currently choosing to follow.
SMSD will be following the Johnson County Health Department’s gating criteria, meaning every two weeks the district will assess the COVID-19 positivity rate in the county. If it exceeds 10%, students will remain in the “red zone” — resulting in remote school until the next assessment.
According to an excerpt from the Aug. 24 board meeting, SMSD Superintendent Dr. Mike Fulton says the next step is for schools to get feedback on their hybrid learning plan so by the end of the week the board can release a statement as to what the timeline might be for a transition into hybrid learning.
Check out this gallery on Harbie Photo to purchase pictures from this event by clicking the link below: SMSD School Closing Protest
