Families in the Marlette Community School District received another letter home on Monday, October 31, this time from superintendent Matthew Karaffa, following up on the demonstration held Friday in place of a student-planned walkout.
While Principal Jessica Owens had said in her letter home Thursday that the forum would be about ten minutes, from 11:30 a.m. until 11:40 a.m., Karaffa shared that the discussion opportunity was 15 minutes long, with mostly freshman to senior students participating, though some junior high students attended.
Of the items talked about, Karaffa highlighted three issues that students spoke on, including the sudden departures of teachers from the school, school-wide bullying and some concerns about the sixth graders still struggling to acclimate to their new school environment. He also highlighted some ideas borne from the discussion, such as “hiring a speaker to discuss tolerance and respect”, surveying the student population in a way that lets them give anonymous feedback, working with the sixth graders to help them better adapt to their new environment and “continuing to give our teachers a platform to openly discuss their ideas and concerns with the administration team.”
While Karaffa did not mention a timeline for implementing these ideas, he did assure parents that the district would update them “as we navigate additional resources.”
This follows events from last week, when a student walk-out planned for 11:15 a.m. on Friday was shot down via Principal Owens’ letter home on Thursday, with some parents alleging that their students were being threatened with suspension if they participated in the event.
On Friday morning, reporters with WMIC News and other Thumb-area media outlets, arrived at the school to cover the student demonstration but were turned away by Principal Owen, who would not comment on the matter and insisted that permission for non-students to attend would need to be acquired through the superintendent (despite one reporter’s repeated attempts to do just that and not receiving any response).
Students had planned the walkout following the resignation of at least 20 staff members since February 2022, with five high school teachers leaving since May. The most recent departure, Mrs. Kristen Behnke, a teacher for the junior/senior high, submitted her resignation at the October 10 board of education meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for November 14.
