Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Comment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Parents call for transparency, communications staff and stronger AP physics options during public comment
Summary
Three public speakers urged the board to address parental access to classrooms, preserve a communications director position and study adding calculus-based AP physics and advanced math courses for Middletown High School.
Several members of the public used the board’s public-comment period on April 8 to press the district on transparency, communications staffing and course offerings.
Marlon Milner, who identified himself as a parent, told the board he had repeatedly requested permission to observe his children’s classes and said he was “effectively prohibited from coming to observe my children and their instruction.” He named specific administrators in his remarks and said he planned to work with community partners and public leaders to pursue the matter.
Anita Ford Saunders, who said she was hired in 2021 to conduct a communications audit for the district, urged the board to retain a dedicated communications professional and to maintain a budget line for the role. Saunders described prior gains under a director of communications, including an award-winning website and more consistent branding, and told the board the change risks a loss of transparency. “Even if this is your last dollar, keep the line item for director of communications in the MPS budget,” she said, quoting her view of the priority.
Chris Freer, a resident and parent, urged the board to ask the administration to study adding advanced courses at Middletown High School, including AP Precalculus, AP Physics C (calculus-based physics) and AP Calculus BC, so eligible students could access calculus-based physics and calculus options beginning next academic year. Freer asked the board to direct staff to report back with time to implement the classes for 2025–26.
Superintendent Vasquez Matos and board members acknowledged the comments; the board did not take immediate, formal action on the individual requests but discussed how the budget process and departmental staffing interact with course offerings and communications capacity.
