To the editor: At GMUSD board meeting, students inspire in defense of their educators

I am writing this letter as an individual, as a parent, and as a member of this community — not in my capacity as a member of the Green Mountain Unified School District board. The views expressed here are my own.

On Monday evening, the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District  held a meeting to discuss Reduction in Force notices. The room was full. Educators shared. Parents shared. Community members shared.

And then the students shared.

One by one, these students stood up in front of a room full of adults and spoke. They spoke about programs that allow them to express their creativity and match their learning pace. They spoke about educators who made learning accessible. They spoke about educators who have built safe spaces for them when the world outside those spaces often was not. They spoke about barriers that felt insurmountable — and about the educators and programs that helped them navigate through and overcome those barriers.

Each student who took to the  microphone shared something deeply personal. They shared unique learning needs. They shared different experiences. They shared that their lives and their futures would look very different without the educators and programs they have now. They did not speak in abstractions. They spoke from experience, and they spoke from a place of vulnerability. These students shared how educators and programs changed their lives for the better.

What these students did takes courage. It takes conviction. It takes incredible bravery. That is community investment in its purest form. I hope they know how brave they are and that they never lose connection to that part of themselves that brought them to the microphone.

We live in a world that often overlooks the voices of young people. Monday night, these students refused to be overlooked. They advocated not only for themselves but for their peers, their educators and the programs that make their schools places where they can learn, grow and belong. The students of today are our future, and we are the luckiest to watch them grow. What an honor it is to do our part to help them succeed in this world.

I am deeply grateful they showed up. I was profoundly moved by their courage. They deserve to be recognized for exactly what they did: brave, bold civic engagement in service of their community. Thank you to those students and so many others who continue to teach us.

Anne Henshaw
Chester