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Teachers, parents urge board to protect staff and model civility during packed public-comment period
Summary
About 14 community members — many current and former Somerset teachers and parents — used public comment to praise district staff, urge the board to counter online harassment and call for civil discourse; some speakers urged limiting abusive comments or enforcing rules, but the board deferred formal action to its policy committee.
About 14 community members addressed the Somerset School Board in a lengthy public-comment portion of the meeting, with a steady stream of teachers and parents defending staff and urging civility.
Teacher Stacy Belil, who identified herself as a seventh- and eighth-grade social studies and ELA teacher at Somerset Middle School, described classrooms where students are engaged and praised administrators and volunteer staff. "We are not teaching subpar academics — we are very good at our jobs," Belil said, recounting examples of teachers volunteering before school and administrators responding to classroom concerns.
Becky Olen, a teacher and parent, urged the board to consider removing or restricting the public-comment portion of meetings, arguing that public remarks have at times circulated misinformation about staff and students and that online harassment has made some staff question whether they can continue teaching in the district. "This is deeply troubling," Olen said, and urged the board to protect educators.
Several other speakers — including long-serving classroom teachers who identified their grade levels and roles during remarks — described sustained negativity in community social-media spaces and its effects on staff morale. Dennis Potter praised expanded academic offerings, including AP and dual-enrollment classes, and thanked administrators for supporting rigor. Other staff members and parents described students who are engaged in extracurriculars and classroom work, urged residents to attend school events, and suggested more positive community outreach to counteract divisive online rhetoric.
Board members acknowledged the volume of public comment and debated policy options for addressing problematic remarks. Several members said they did not want to eliminate public comment but favored clearer enforcement of existing rules, clearer pre-meeting guidance and potential temporary limits on repeat violators. The policy committee will review language and bring recommendations back to the full board.
The meeting record shows the public-comment extension was moved and approved so all scheduled speakers could be heard; the board later moved the meeting into closed session on unrelated personnel investigation items.
