One of our good local citizens let the community in on some critical information via this letter to the editor on a strange decision of the MSVD 244 school board on August 15th, 2024:

To the Editor:

Last Thursday my husband and I attended a school board meeting in Elk City. It was well-attended and we received a draft of the proposed VALUES Statement for the Mountain View School District which read:

“Values are principles of conduct and perspective that help one discern what is important in life, and which, when coupled with what is good and desirable, helps lead us to live productive, meaningful lives. Accordingly, the Board of Trustees for Mountain View School District 244 hereby affirms what it values by providing an education to our students which:

1. Focuses on teaching real world skills and critical thinking.

2. Respects our nation’s history and traditional American values.

3. Promotes the principles of good moral character and civic virtue

4. Shields our students from detrimental cultural and social trends which undermine these values.”

Toward the end of the meeting a vote was taken by the trustees whether or not to adopt The Values Statement. Here was the result:

Larry Dunn voted positive.

Jon Menough voted positive.

Ty Harrington agreed with the first 3 values but not the fourth, so abstained.

Laci Myers did not agree with any of the statements, and also abstained.

B Edwards was not at the meeting.

The motion failed.

I am totally amazed! Where do you stand?

“What happens with the schools is where our communities are headed, and in a large part this is a fight for the souls of the kids and our communities.” M. Wong

Respectfully,

Gloria Taylor

So apparently, Ty Harrington, the board chairman, thinks the school should not “Shield our students from detrimental cultural and social trends which undermine these values.”

The opposite of that stance says that the school should:

“Allow detrimental cultural and social trends to undermine the 3 values he agreed with”???

Put in a more clear way, the school board abstainers seem to think that cultural and social trends should be allowed to destroy: real world skills, critical thinking, American historical knowledge and cultural values, good moral character and civic virtues.

Is that what we want from our school board chairman? Is that what we want for the future of our community and nation? Is that what you wanted to pay for when you voted for the levy?

Where is this coming from? How socialist and destructive must our school board policies get before we WAKE UP and VOTE THESE GUYS OUT?