The Independence school board walks in lockstep. Vote for change on Election Day | Opinion

The Independence School District has a historic school board vote coming up on April 2. For almost a decade, members of the board have run unopposed and effectively acted as a rubber stamp for the district’s superintendent, issuing a no vote only once in 11 years. The complaints about the board and the administration have been consistent throughout this time: very little transparency, accountability or access for district families when it comes to how decisions are made.

And if you ask questions or push for change? Well, let’s just say it’s not received well. I have but one of these stories — but dig around and you’ll find numerous examples like mine.

In 2020, I landed what I called my dream job as a journalism teacher in Independence. It was a short lived dream, cut down after I tried to advocate for my students’ rights under district board policy and the First Amendment.

I’m still reluctant to tell my story, but I feel this moment in time demands it. As the advisor to William Chrisman High School’s student-led yearbook, my administrators told me they wanted to institute “prior review,” basically acting as the final editor of the yearbook before going to print. This is highly unusual for a student-led publication. However, I advised my administrators that I would review it with them and the student editors, using district policy and First Amendment law as our guide.

I gathered my students and reviewed these policies and laws, because with a student-led publication, it was ultimately their duty to have the conversations. My job as adviser was to help the administration and the students balance their views and objectives.

A month later, my lead administrator called me to his office and said I needed to have the students remove several pieces from the yearbook. I reminded him that district policy required he submit that request in writing to the student editors, including his reasons for the request to censor certain content. That didn’t go over well at all. He told me to have the students remove the content or he’d contact district lawyers about the issue.

I left the meeting shaken and upset. I didn’t remove the content and I never heard from that lawyer. In a later meeting with administration and the student editors, one author voluntarily agreed to change one word in a poem to be published, and rest the pieces that had been challenged remained in the yearbook.

After this exchange, administrators avoided speaking to me. They stonewalled student journalist questions. They treated my students in ways I considered unprofessional, but my students took it all in stride and issued an editorial statement in response.

My career felt damaged and I felt isolated — all for defending my students’ rights.

I didn’t want an adversarial relationship with school leadership. I simply expected to have the students rights as journalists and American citizens respected. I didn’t refuse to remove content. I asked the administrators to follow their own policy — a policy we all agree to follow when we sign our contracts as Independence School District employees.

So, I know why current teachers and families may fear the consequences of speaking out in this election, or even fear something as simple as “liking” a social media page for a school board candidate who is pushing for change. In full disclosure, I’ve been helping candidate Wendy Baird with her campaign messaging, because she and others who would question the status quo are needed now more than ever.

I don’t care how you vote, but I feel every resident of Independence should look deeply at these candidates before they head to the polls. There’s a need for a different direction, and the time is now.

Dez (Martin) Nevins is a corporate trainer in the Kansas City metropolitan area and a former high school journalism teacher in the Independence School District.