It's your decision

After reading an earlier post on The Hall Monitor about a letter sent out to Wichita district employees, Superintendent Winston Brooks is clarifying a paragraph he wrote about the election.

In a email he shared with The Hall Monitor, Brooks wrote that employees should educate themselves on the candidates. He also wrote that there are other groups besides United Teachers of Wichita that they can contact to learn more.

Click below to read the full email.

Dear Colleagues:

I apologize for adding to your list of emails today, but clarification is needed regarding the intent of my email that I sent to you last night. First, the intent was to thank each of you for the great work you do in the Wichita Public Schools and on behalf of our nearly 49,000 students. Once again, I say thank you for your dedication, your passion, and your commitment.

Second purpose was to encourage you to stay focused on student learning for the remainder of the year. Finally, I encouraged you to go vote on April 3rd. I also suggested that you should educate yourself on the candidates who are running for the School Board and if in doubt, call UTW for recommendations. Unfortunately, this has been misconstrued as an endorsement of certain candidates by the Superintendent, not true.

In fact, if you choose to not contact UTW (which I thought was a logical choice since they are the bargaining agent for teachers); there are other agencies that you can also contact for recommendations. For example, you could contact the Wichita Eagle editorial board for their endorsements, or you can contact the League of Women Voters, or the Pachyderm Club, or the Chamber of Commerce, or the Wichita Independent Business Association. I suspect you could also contact both the Republican and Democrat local offices, although the School Board races are to be non-partisan.

I have no intent to unduly influence this election one way or the other and I apologize to anyone who might think that I have.

Once again, thank you for your work.

Winston C. Brooks
Superintendent