Editorial from John Collins

My compliments to Ms. Reino, your reporter covering recent events in Oyster River. Her article in today's edition (May 12) mentions two public comments at last night's School Board meeting critical of ORHS students. These represent the latest in a series of such remarks, at board meetings and in letters to your editor. Most in our community are very proud of these students. This is my response to their detractors. 

My parents gave me a small rock (a paperweight) when I graduated from high school. On it were the words "a noble character is not a thing of chance." Three weeks ago, more than 500 noble characters walked out of the Oyster River High School and marched to the nearby SAU building to voice their disagreement with the School Board's decision to deny them a new principal. The candidate nominated by the superintendent had strong support from a talented and diverse search committee, from the high school teachers and students, and the community. Still, the Board said "no;" and then they wouldn't even tell us why! 

First they fumbled through a laundry list of excuses, none of which held water, leaving us to speculate, breeding suspicion and rumors. Then they closed the book on the issue, telling us that no reason will be forthcoming; instead they'll hide behind an RSA. How transparent! Their actions were deeply troubling, insulting and embarrassing to watch. They disrespected a fine and dedicated candidate, the search committee, the Superintendent, the teachers, the students and the community.

How did the students respond? With a peaceful, orderly, organized demonstration. They showed courage, resolve, poise; they were noble. The Oyster River community is proud of you. 

Oh, you have your detractors. You heard some of them at the April 27 SB meeting, calling you puppets, controlled by "Gepettos." Some claim the teachers organized the whole thing. Others echoed a letter in Foster's on April 22 that stated as fact that "the April 14 walkout was transparently led by former and ousted members of the Board." These allegations are simply not true. The people making such unfounded allegations owe the students an apology. More than that, this point of view is revealing, so telling. These people need to think that to assuage their cognitive dissonance. The schools they want would never produce independent thinking, confident, courageous, resolute noble characters like these. 

But "a noble character is not a thing of chance." First, are their parents. These students were raised right. There must be many noble parents out there. With all the demands and distractions of day-to-day life it's easy to get lost in the glitter and the rouge. OR students — talk to your parents. Tell them what's going on. Tell them why you care about this so much. Remind them that they too are noble. We're gonna need them for the battles ahead. "A noble character is not a thing of chance." 

Second are your teachers. They do more than teach; they also shape character. Your teachers are noble characters. Oyster River attracts noble teachers. We nurture them, we value them and we give them room to be noble. They challenge you every day to think, to question, to be better, to be noble. Put it all together and you have Oyster River, a culture that builds noble characters.

The trouble is, some on this board, and their roots in the community want to change the culture of Oyster River. That's the larger battle; the high school principal situation is just the present skirmish. Think about it - if you wanted to shift the culture of Oyster River education, where would you start? With the leadership of the schools and the district, of course. Over the past three weeks we have witnessed the board wresting control of the high school principal search process. Next target? The superintendent. 

At stake is the culture of Oyster River. To be clear, the battlefield is open meetings, public sessions of the School Board, not in anyone's private lives and certainly not hiding in nonpublic session. In the weeks to come, I look forward to an open and honest debate about the culture of this district, and this community.

John Collins
Lee