Wednesday night's Fulton Public Schools Board of Education meeting was an opportunity for parents and guardians to express their frustrations over an inappropriate survey conducted during middle school physical education classes in March. Nine speakers addressed the board and laid out issues stemming from the survey, called "Claim It," and other points of concern they said they've observed before the activity took place, such as lack of communication, transparency, collaboration, trust and parental involvement.
In the aftermath of the controversy, board members, administrators and parents are thinking about what happens next. While it may appear as an "us vs. them" situation, board member Dennis Depping believes all parties share a common goal: doing what's best for the district's children.
"I want the public to understand we're all together in this," he said. "It's all about the kids."
Amanda Murdie, parent of a sixth grade student and a leader of the recently-formed Parents for Fulton Schools group, agreed with Depping's sentiment and echoed this thought.
"In the end, we all want the same thing and that's a great school our kids can go to and our community can be proud of," Murdie said.
While he didn't have any specific responses regarding parental concerns brought up Wednesday, Superintendent Jacque Cowherd also stated his desire to look ahead.
"We need to think about how we finish the end of the year and start positive for the new year with a new principal coming in," he said, referring to McIntire Elementary Principal Beth Houf who will soon take over the middle school. "We have some staff turnovers and new teachers coming in and we're looking forward to that opportunity for a new school year, getting started and continuing creating a positive experience for kids."
Houf will replace Chris Crane at Fulton Middle School. Crane resigned prior to the "Claim It" controversy. Low Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) results have been one component signaling a need for change at the middle school. Board member Kevin Habjan said he's excited to see the changes Houf makes.
"We're very excited to have someone of Beth's caliber at the middle school," he said. "There's a very strong curriculum component to her knowledge, she's very good with parent involvement, she brings a lot to the table and we're very happy she's going ot be at the middle school."
Board members and parents have expressed increased parental involvement is an avenue the district can take to make improvements. Several parents who addressed the board Wednesday stated their commitment to maintaining involvement into the next school year and more to follow.
"We're trying to make sure that changes happen," Murdie said. "I'm not sure exactly what the next step is other than that we're not going away. We want a better school district for our kids."
Tammy Gillespie, another concerned parent, challenged parents and guardians at the March board meeting to donate a total of 58 volunteer hours before the school year is over. Murdie said local entities, such as parent-teacher organizations, Fulton Public Schools Foundation and representatives from William Woods University and Westminster College, are teaming up to gain interest in volunteering.
"There's a really great movement that's just starting to try to bring together a whole bunch of groups in town and get everybody on the same page that we want better schools," Murdie said. "This is not just one issue and we're excited to make better schools in Fulton."
Board member Todd Gray said parental involvement - specifically Gillespie's volunteering initiative - is a positive action that came from an unfortunate situation. He also said bringing a parent onto the physical education and health curriculum committee is a sign the district is moving in the right direction. Assistant Superintendent Suzanne Hull reported to the board Wednesday that teachers are putting final touches on a new K-12 physical education and health curriculum after working on it for a couple years. The committee will assess the curriculum before August when it will be presented to the board. District administrators are taking recommendations for parent representatives from building administrators.
"I think if you get parents involved it's a positive thing," Gray said.
Open communication is another factor in moving forward, some board members said. Habjan said communication is something the board has striven for in the past and will continue to work toward in the future. The board recently modified its public comment policy, which Cowherd previously said clarifies the outline for public comments during board meetings.
"I think it's always important for us to welcome any patron or parent concerns and hear them," Habjan said. "(Wednesday) was the first board meeting since the "Claim It' activity so that was parents' opportunity to voice their opinions."
He said the SchoolReach system, which texts notices such as parent-teacher conferences and school cancellations, could be better utilized. Habjan said he would like to see the district explore ways for improving its overall communication in order to reach as many patrons as possible.
Depping said in order to stay organized, parents and patrons should follow the chain of communication when addressing an issue. The chain of communication, he said, many times starts with a teacher and continues up in this order: building principal, central office administrators then school board members.
"Following the chain of communication is so important in every situation because if it goes to the teacher and the teacher can take care of it, then the process is working," he said. "If the teacher can't take care of it, and it goes to the principal that means the process didn't take care of itself and we really need to look at what's going on in the classroom," Depping said, adding the principal is sometimes unable to find a solution and then the issue goes to central office administration.
While he also stressed the importance of a chain of communication, Gray said that if a patron feels compelled to contact board members, they welcome phone calls. All of the board members' phone numbers are listed on the district website, fulton58.org. This gives them an opportunity, Gray said, to search for solutions. He added that he wished he heard from more parents prior to Wednesday night.
"The unfortunate thing is that the only one who has talked to me one-on-one is Amanda Murdie," Gray said. "That's my concern - I don't know if they've ever talked to the principal; I don't know if they've ever talked to Dr. Cowherd. The first time they decided to talk was that night at the meeting."
Depping said the board wants to hear solutions from the public and "take it and run."
Gray said improvements will take time.
"It's not something that's going to happen over night," he said. "I take being a board member very seriously, and I want to make sure nothing like this ever happens again."
Board member Ruth Burt said she liked ideas presented by Michael Luley, a Fulton-based psychotherapist, such as bringing in specialists, providing online resources, conducting parent surveys, workshops during teachers' professional development and guest speakers to talk to parents.
Broken trust between the district and patrons is something Depping apologized for.
"I'm sorry that there is that feeling of a lack of trust," he said. "In the number of years I've been on the board, there is always a trust factor and there's always been a feeling we can verify our trust."
Gray also expressed his want to re-establish trust.
"I'm sorry that it happened. I feel bad that the trust has been broken between some parents and the district," he said. "I would like to build that trust back."