Superintendent’s Message, February 24, 2021
Dear Hastings-on-Hudson Families, Faculty and Staff,
The community has been actively processing the resignation of a teacher which was accepted at Monday night’s Board meeting. I would like to provide two important facts:
- No books were ever banned. We were responsible educators and took the time to analyze our practices in light of our current context. When questions were raised, administrators and teachers reviewed our pedagogical approaches to sensitive topics and will continue to do so.
- Student voice is essential in everything that we consider. The District administration is committed to ensuring that our students have the opportunity to contribute to the discourse on their learning experience in every appropriate way. We would never ignore or marginalize our students. We will work even harder to ensure that our commitment to that end is more obvious.
Our current socio-political environment, now more than ever, requires us to examine and re-examine our assumptions, biases, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors within the context of the racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic identities of children attending our schools. We have to ask critical questions about the curriculum resources used to engage students and teach important topics, themes, concepts, knowledge, dispositions, and skills.
Our nation and our community are grappling with deeply polarizing issues around race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, disabilities, culture, and religion. Our discomfort and unease can quickly devolve into frustration. I regret the disharmony and acrimony produced by attempts to value every single voice. Moreover, I respect educator autonomy and creativity. They must be cultivated and encouraged through the lens of these polarizing issues.
Spirited debate and disagreement are truly necessary to preserve our fragile democracy. You won’t agree with every decision made. You won’t often have all of the information that went into a decision. Some of the information is confidential and cannot be disclosed. But, you do have my guarantee that any and all decisions made will be in the best interest of the District as a whole. We will consider the needs, opinions, and desires of all of our stakeholders.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Warm regards,
Valerie Henning-Piedmonte, Ed.D.
