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Parents and colleagues urge board not to reassign long-serving elementary PE teacher
Summary
During public comment the board heard multiple speakers — including a retiring PE teacher and the teacher’s daughter — ask the board to reconsider a proposed reassignment of an elementary physical education teacher, stressing long ties to students, traditions and the teacher’s pending retirement.
Several residents and district educators addressed the Watertown City School District board on June 16 to urge the board and administration to reconsider a proposed reassignment of a longtime elementary physical education teacher.
Rebecca Sullivan, who said she has taught physical education in the district for 28 years (the last 14 at Ohio Elementary), described the school as “a community that I have come to cherish” and told the board that moving a teacher who has built deep relationships with students would harm the school community and the children she serves. "Teaching these children is a privilege," Sullivan said in public comment, and urged the board to “work together to ensure that our schools continue to be places of love, growth, and opportunity.”
Multiple other speakers echoed those concerns. Abigail Boland — identifying herself as both an educator in the district and the daughter of the teacher at issue — asked the board to ‘‘ask the administration the hard question’’ about why the move was proposed and warned that transferring the teacher with only three years until retirement would ‘‘tear down the foundation of trust’’ the teacher has built with students and families.
Speakers described the teacher’s long-standing role in coordinating events like Fun Day and field days, organizing parent participation and building institutional memory. One commenter argued that reassigning the teacher would be ‘‘punishment for doing an incredible job’’ and urged the board to preserve continuity for students who have come to rely on that adult.
Board members did not announce a final decision on the specific personnel reassignment during the public-comment period. The speaker comments were entered during the agenda-related comment period; the board later approved multiple personnel items and appointments in the posted personnel report, but the transcript does not show a specific vote reversing or affirming the particular reassignment at issue.
