Dear lola Citizens,
I am a seventh-grader at Iola middle school and recently there was a conflict with our biology teacher Mr. David Cunningham. There was a board meeting on April 10. It was open to the public and many people spoke in support of him.Most of our citizens were in support of him.
There was a petition going around town and anybody in support of Mr. Cunningham would sign, but one day when I was walking around town getting signatures from the public, I saw one of my old teachers and asked her if she wanted to sign.
Her response was, “I would but I don’t want to get fired.”
She was scared to sign something because she didn’t want to lose her job.
At the board meeting they announced that we had over 700 signatures. Iola’s current population is 5,704 people. To me that is a lot of signatures.
Iola’s Middle School teacher handbook states “The mission of USD 257 is to inspire all students to become successful.”
How are we supposed to be successful when we aren’t getting the right education. Our long-term sub doesn’t have a degree in science and mostly doesn’t know what he is talking about. So someone please explain to me how am I to be successful in biology when they aren’t teaching us correctly?
The principals called my mother and told her that I needed to stay out of the conflict, but it is my right to make a change for what I feel is unfair and incorrect. So I am taking a stand.
Talia Epting
Iola, Kan.
