Dear Rockingham County School Board,

There have been some recent steps that have left us, as students, feeling that our educational experience is not being portrayed correctly to our community. There has been outstanding unprofessionalism demonstrated, and we feel that this behavior is unacceptable. In elementary school, we are taught the pillars which consist of Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. During these past few weeks, we have seen the school board break every single one of these pillars in more ways than one, poking fun at and destroying the very system they sit atop. We are astounded by the utter and complete disrespect and disregard for the position these individuals hold. They have been voted into place but have thrown that responsibility aside, using it as an opportunity to cast individuals in a negative light in the public eye. Throwing negativity at reporters and people simply doing their jobs during a live-streamed public meeting is utterly unacceptable and an embarrassment to the Rockingham County Public School system and all of its employees.

As you are aware, you are supposed to be the voice of the teachers, principals, counselors, students, parents, and reason. From this short list of the people you represent, the percentage of those who approve of that particular statement is very close to zero. It is never acceptable to call someone out just because their political views might not align with your own. That is directly against everything RCPS stands for and fights for every day. We understand you have not seen that from the public and certain people in contact to your personal views, which is not okay. No one should have to feel that their views are inherently wrong as long as those views aren’t hurting, causing pain, or affecting someone's human rights.

In relation to that, we bring it back to what my peers and us have learned in the RCPS school system: respect. Respect is something that people like ourselves strive for, something that is earned, not given, but comes in waves. Everyone is deserving of respect until they aren’t. Currently, the only thing holding most of your personal aspect of respect is the title of your position. People lose respect when they disrespect others, which was evident at your meetings on March 25th and April 1st . These students have taken time before writing this email to reflect and take time before composing this letter to make our voices heard in a positive regard. However, in that short span of time, lots of pondering happened. A big question we asked was, would these things have been said if the person in question had reflected their political views? The more we thought about this, the more we learned the answer, and the simple answer is no. You would not have said these things because we have seen time and time again your preference for your own views and bias towards people who think like you do. In Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, there are countless reporters who hold heavy bias to your side, but we do not see you calling them out for their work when they write about the same things that the reporter you called out does, just from the other side. That is how the news media functions. Everything has an audience, and every company just wishes to make money and will do what the audience asks for. Again, because that is how they make money. The ugly truth is you have biased news or none at all because at the end of the day, the news is classified as entertainment. You take away that appeal of picking a side, and you lose business greatly. It is one of the many unfortunate truths of this society.

That alone is enough to prove the people's point of seeing a lack of professionalism and dignity in the positions seen but also picking apart the very people who sit on the same bench as you, who share the same job title, and publicly humiliating them in front of the very people who put them there. Requiring students in their government class to attend meetings of this kind shows a negative light on adults surrounding them. When inviting them to these meetings to see people in positions of power and respect, seeing them actively break every element of character they have been taught to show and act like throw out the door is utter blasphemy. When my peers and us went to see it for ourselves, the feeling was only described as unrepresented.

        About your choice in hiring a lawyer. It was not a truly fair practice because as we are aware, Jackie Lohr was not given a vote. This means only 4/5ths of the school board actually voted on the matter. This sets a precedent that will be dangerous going forward. About the lawyer specifically, it doesn't matter if you do not include them in the closed meeting, hiring him at all could give the firm an unfair advantage. As students who are aware of the issue, we recommend it be rectified immediately.

About the so-called “hit pieces”. After having multiple people read it, we believe it would qualify as a normal representation of the topics discussed. Just because someone has different political views and is writing things you don’t like doesn't mean you should lash out, it means you should contemplate it and do research, then make an informed action.

We plead with you to earn that respect, show us that you deserve to be where you are, and deserve our attention, respect, and admiration. For we worry if that does not improve, it soon will affect the public around us.

Sincerely, Concerned Students of Rockingham County Public Schools