Salt Lake Tribune articles continue to reference controversial text exchanges between Salt Lake School District board members as “vulgar,” and this needs to stop. Exasperated expletives communicated in private, in emotionally charged settings, are not vulgar; they are desperate. That perspective is not being represented in a time when how best to educate our children is uncertain and fraught with tension.
That being said: As an educator, I want to know why our board members who hold such life-changing decision making power in our community are behaving so dysfunctionally? This is unacceptable, and that should be the focus of compassionate communication on the subject.
Am I disappointed at the unprofessionalism displayed by board members? Yes.
Am I exasperated by the lack of teacher voice represented in their decisions? Absolutely.
Do I think stigmatizing speech/reporting has a productive place on this crucial discourse? Hell no.
Elizabeth Totterer, Salt Lake City