HARTLAND’s 2024 SCHOOL STAFF SURVEY indicates rampant dissatisfaction with the ‘Clean Slate’

Our school community has not been able to weigh in regarding the climate and issues in the Hartland Consolidated School (HCS) district. Therefore, SAGE felt it was crucial that their words reach parents and stakeholders so that they can make educated decisions in this upcoming school board election. Voters need to understand which candidates the school community is supporting and what exactly is at stake this November.

Overall, the survey revealed rampant teacher dissatisfaction specifically with the ‘Clean Slate’ school board members Gogoleski, Blondeel and Keller. 50% of the respondents cite these ‘Clean Slate’ school board members as the source of their dissatisfaction with the district. Not one comment was in support of these 3 board members.

School staff report that HCS has already lost quality educators and will continue to lose them due to the Clean Slate. Comments include teachers struggling with not sending their own children to Hartland schools directly due to the negativity that the clean slate has brought upon the district. Teachers state that they would be looking for employment elsewhere if the “extremists” get the majority in November. Numerous respondents use the words “attacking” and “harassing” when describing the Clean Slate along with citing their “personal agendas” and “politics” as serious concerns. Many respondents are worried that the board is wasting time on non issues while ignoring the actual needs of the district, but perhaps the most concerning is the recurring theme that Gogoleski, Blondeel and Keller are making teacher’s jobs harder with concerns about quality education being compromised. To follow are a few snippets of the dozens of comments from HCS school staff regarding these concerns.

“Unfortunately, the hostile interactions and disrespectful behavior from certain board members and their supporters are unacceptable and counterproductive to our shared goal of providing quality education. This conduct creates an unsafe work environment and administration from focusing on student learning by forcing us to address unfounded criticisms and unreasonable requests.”

“I have grave concerns about the competence of some of our board members and the lack of empathy/understanding towards the needs of ALL students”

“There are a few members, Glenn Gogoleski, Michelle Blondeele, and Greg Keller, who seem to treat the board position as a pulpit for their political and religious views. They do not seem to understand the educational realm and seem to have little interest in doing so. Their continued harassment and questioning of the district makes it hard to do the work the district employees are here to do- educate kids.”

As for the board, it’s hard to feel supported when teachers are constantly attacked and criticized during board meetings. Morale is low.”

“After 19 years as a teacher in the district, it is unfortunate to see the climate change regarding the perception and value of teachers. It is discouraging to see seasoned educators resign from their positions because they have become targets of unfounded school board and parent attacks.”

We knew that teacher’s satisfaction with Hartland’s current school board is AT AN ALL TIME LOW with the stats publicly released last month, but what we didn’t realize was the extent of their discontent as written in these survey comments. We can expect this to continue if Clean Slate 2.0 (Yarber/Baird/Scott) wins in November.

Read the dozens of HCS staff’s comments about the Clean Slate here 

SHARE this post post far and wide!