On March 8 I went to the WW-P Board of Education meeting with my husband, for whom it was his first time attending. When it was my turn to give my public comments I had difficulty in articulating “PRISM PROGRAM.” It took me at least 15 to 20 seconds to be able to articulate those words. Those who know me know that I am a foreigner and that English is my second language.
However, I am an interpreter certified by the New York State Unified Court System for English-Spanish, hence I know that my spoken English is very good. But it happens some days even to the most experienced, certified bilinguist that it becomes difficult to articulate certain words. We are all human, and we need to have patience with each other. At least that is what I teach my children.
Knowing that my public comment was not the most “eloquent” I decided to follow up with an e-mail to Anthony Fleres, the president of the school board.
On February 26 Attitudes in Reverse, as part of a Wellness Fair at Community Middle School, portrayed a picture to students of the “PRISM PROGRAM” (ages 12 to 14) that read suicide, self-injury, self-medication, anxiety.
I do agree that in WW-P we have a stress problem. However, I disagree with the implementation. Why do we have to talk about the stress from a negative point of view and not from a positive point of view? For example: You are stressed — let us meditate, let us do yoga, let us do something that makes you feel better.
I refuse to parade words such as suicide, self-injury, self-medication to young children so loosely as it was done in this Wellness Fair. As a mother of young children I was horrified to see these words shown in our school.
When I sent the e-mail to Mr. Fleres he responded to me by saying, “To be honest, when you were speaking, it took a while for many of us to realize that was what you were talking about.”
Is this an appropriate comment to be made by the president of the board to a parent and a taxpayer? Isn’t this comment a “bully” comment to a parent who is concerned about the wellbeing of the students in WW-P?
The president of the board should behave with more decorum and understand that foreigners are making a huge effort in speaking a second language and be more sensitive to the diverse community that he has a fiduciary obligation to. Parents should not be bullied nor disrespected by the president nor by any member of the board. They are here to serve the community and not the other way around. If Mr. Fleres cannot be attuned to the community’s needs and hear with an open mind what parents have to say, he should step down as president of the board.
Mr. Fleres, I believe that an apology is in order.
Veronica Mehno
West Windsor
