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* We only print positive letters about candidates one week prior to the election.

School Board election concern

Teachers are treasures of CSPS! They impact student’s lives daily. It’s come to my attention teachers are being asked to sign a letter in support of school board candidates running as a duo. It’s concerning they’re asked to choose “sides.”  How is that collaboration? Why are only “chosen ones” acknowledged as collaborative? Using trusted teacher position to sway votes from those who may be uninformed of facts feels like an intimidation.

Over 70% of CSPS teachers don’t reside within the district. It’s troubling that individuals unable to vote are being asked to influence the outcome. Why is this? The individuals pushing this letter are friends and/or relatives of former employees and members of the SOS steering committee who perpetuate the CSPS broken unity since the hiring of Dr. VanDuyn. They concentrate on the past, which doesn’t allow CSPS to unite and work together to move forward. Several members of the SOS steering committee are also at the forefront for the Sabinas/Bowser Campaign.

Current administration is transforming CSPS with positive change everywhere! Changed leadership has brought accountability and transparency in areas needing repair. Services have moved closer to students. Teachers have the same medical insurance at a cheaper rate. New tracking by HR of teacher PD assists them with their certification. Financial budgeting being moved to each building gives teachers a voice and allows collaboration between principal and teachers to ensure clearer financials to protect the fiscal health of everyone at CSPS.

Quoting Steve Seward’s Twitter “When struggling w/change is it resulting from: control, ego, consciousness, competency, &/OR your values & beliefs (identity)?” Teachers’ services are valued, please value parents’ freedom to research and choose leaders for the school board. Voters please consult with Mlive’s voters’ guide and CS Post candidate questions to see qualifications, business experiences and volunteers’ experience.

After this debate is over, people will leave CSPS but the school remains. Let’s leave it intact. Teachers your community loves you, and wants to give you tools to be successful in educating our children. Please allow everyone the freedom to vote and work together for the children of CSPS.

Stephanie Morris, Solon Township

Community Member and Concerned CSPS Parent

I chose to live in Cedar Springs because I believed it was a welcoming community, which offered a family, and had a big heart. I was raised in a much larger town then Cedar, so I had hoped my children would experience a close knit feeling by going to a smaller school district. I wanted them to open up their yearbooks and not question who the majority of the students were like I experienced. I thought by growing up in Cedar that they would always feel safe, because of the community unity and big hearts.

Recently I’ve questioned if I made the right choice. I’ve seen, read and heard things that make me feel that if your opinion is different than theirs it doesn’t matter. I cry myself to sleep because my children have experienced unkind words and believe their friends are shunning them, because their mother has been publicly vocal. I fear everyday that they will be repeatedly punished because I am expressing my difference of opinion and have been working to focus on the positives occurring at CSPS.

I agree there is a broken unity in our community, but I’m having a hard time believing it ever existed from the way my family has been treated. We didn’t grow up in Cedar Springs but our opinion as residents should be just as respected as those who have lived here longer than us. I don’t expect us all to agree similarly, but I do expect us all to be respectful, kind, understanding, and to agree to disagree when we have a different opinion.

So, please stop using my children as a method of attacking me. I don’t mind if you don’t like me or my opinions but I ask that you not use my children as pawns and allow them, as they grow up, to feel they are safe.

Stephanie Morris, Solon Township Resident