Letters

Featured Letter: We support Riverhead Charter School teachers

The Riverhead Charter School in Calverton.
The Riverhead Charter School in Calverton.

To the editor:

As educators, few would argue that one’s primary responsibility is to the children entrusted to your care. In order to best meet that massive responsibility, one must come to rely on a team that consists of parents, colleagues, administrators, and the students themselves. 

But what happens when one component of that team not only doesn’t pull its weight, but attempts to undercut the process of collegiality, partnership, and solidarity necessary to do the important work teachers endeavor to do?

Unfortunately, in the case of the Riverhead Charter School, we are finding out.

The results are as unsightly as they are predictable: anxiety for parents, an unprofessional environment for teachers, and worst of all, a loss of focus on that primary responsibility: students.

The Riverhead Central Faculty Association stands with our colleagues at the Riverhead Charter School as they seek to ensure their workplace is free from harassment and fear. To our colleagues at the RCS, it’s not every day that our perspectives are exactly the same, but at this time we know and share your beliefs about what a school should feel like as a workplace and educational institution. In solidarity with our NYSUT colleagues —

Lisa Goulding, Chris Butterfield and Gary Karlson on behalf of

The Riverhead Central Faculty Association