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Mariettans, the time has come to confront the stark choices for the school board election. Our school system is in tatters. Teacher morale is at an all-time low.
State test scores have been sliding for years. Of 863 measured districts in Ohio, our school system ranks 548th--and last in Washington County.
Over half of our eighth graders are not proficient in math or English. Parents are pulling their children from our district at an increasing pace. Parents moving to Southeast Ohio avoid Marietta because of the schools.
It gets worse. Just this Monday, a distraught mom spoke directly to the current Board of Education about students video-recording fistfights on high school grounds and then sharing the videos through the student population.
The videos encourage more fighting. More shameful yet, this parent recounted that students were also recording sex acts at the school as other students looked on. The decorum of the high school has devolved into that of a prison yard. If concerned, the Superintendent did not say so.
What does concern our Superintendent? Last March, Mr. Hampton released a written statement district-wide to condemn anti-Asian hate, as though that were a major issue here in Marietta, Ohio. Does virtue-signaling prevail over confronting the problems that actually exist here?
Our teachers are desperate for change. Nonetheless, their union political action committee endorsed candidates Sam Tuten and Eric Reed. The union rep explained: they did not want candidates who proposed "sweeping changes." Do they seek the meek against their own interests?
What will you get with Sam Tuten and Eric Reed?
Sam Tuten recently quit his job with Marietta Main Street after only nine months. Per Mr. Tuten, as reported on the front page of the Oct. 27 Marietta Times, he was "struggling both mentally and physically" from the "stress of that job." He said, "Yes, the stress of that job broke me." Now, he wants you to elect him to a far more stressful position.
Eric Reed's career has been as an engineer for ODOT. A nice guy, for sure. Yet, he flatly stated at the September 20th "Meet the Candidates" event that he believed that the Board of Education should defer to the Superintendent and let him run the meetings.
Mr. Reed does not apparently know what the BOE is supposed to do. Do you think that Eric Reed will demand a new direction and accountability from the Superintendent?
Contrast the other choices. John Lehman has built and runs large business operations employing hundreds in Marietta.
Ethan Vessels, a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army officer, has successfully advocated for clients in courtrooms all over Ohio.
These two men confront stress day in and day out. They build teams. They manage resources. They communicate their plans. And they succeed.
Now IS the time for sweeping change. It is no time to be timid. Vote for John Lehman and Ethan Vessels.
Bruce Edward Haas
Marietta