The Hempfield school board doesn’t believe high school seniors are old enough to accept responsibilities like curiosity, empathy, service, integrity and courage, and have allowed Moms for Freedom, a fascist group who just last month were outed for hiring a known sex offender and convicted pedophile, Dr. Phillip Fisher, to head its outreach efforts in Pennsylvania. This group has led book-banning efforts in our school district, denying students input into books they can access.
The school also dodged a bullet when a student brought a loaded gun to the high school for an attempted sale. There was no malicious intent (although the gun was loaded, so what could go wrong?). Banned books imply increased security and the need for guns on campus, so now we need to ban more books. Student responsibility must wait until graduation when students will be sprinkled with pixie dust since they weren’t allowed any voice in decision-making in high school, which will be a great service when they are able to vote.
High school should not be a vacuum, but a bridge from home to the world of work and interacting with the community. Our leaders need to think about that.
Harold Franklin Weaver
Hempfield