What is the Priority?

Rochester Community School’s Board of Education Trustee Barb Anness (D) was collecting signatures for multiple political petitions at the Rochester Farmers Market on May 7, 2022, as evidenced in the social media post below.  At one point Anness was approached by her constituents and asked about the dossiers and the list and per those that witnessed the exchange, “She was so incredibly rude and arrogant.” Anness reportedly said, “great, you are here to harass me; about something I have nothing to do with.” 

The Superintendent of Rochester Community Schools reports to Anness and the other Trustees who sit on the board. The primary role of a school board is to oversee the work of the superintendent and ensure that he is holding his staff accountable to an agreed-upon standard within the community. With this knowledge, there is no possible way for Anness to exclude herself from responsibility.

There has been no acknowledgment from the RCS BOE of any employees’ unethical actions, including Superintendent Shaner and Deputy Superintendent Fragomeni, that led to the district being sued in Federal Court for violating a parent’s 1st amendment rights. 

If the board is unwilling to address this blatant violation of trust to its taxpayers, have they actually accepted accountability for this wrongdoing? If Anness herself is unwilling to have a two-way dialogue with her constituents at public meetings or public events, when is she willing to answer their questions? 

New York Times

The New York Times‘s David Leonhardt wrote about the new studies that show the substantial damage done by the closing of schools due to COVID. Leonhart’s critical point is that the evidence shows the damage was avoidable, saying, “Were many of these problems avoidable? The evidence suggests that they were. Extended school closures appear to have done much more harm than good, and many school administrators probably could have recognized as much by the fall of 2020.”

As Rochester Community Schools’ was planning for the ’20 – ’21 school year, Anness was campaigning for the Michigan House of Representatives District 45 seat, one that she lost to Mark Tisdel (R).

Furthermore, Leonhardt goes on to state, “There are two main reasons. First, schools with large numbers of poor students were more likely to go remote. Why? Many of these schools are in major cities, which tend to be run by Democratic officials, and Republicans were generally quicker to reopen schools. High-poverty schools are also more likely to have unionized teachers, and some unions lobbied for remote schooling. Second, low-income students tended to fare even worse when schools went remote. They may not have had reliable internet access, a quiet room in which to work or a parent who could take time off from work to help solve problems.”

David Leonhardt, New York Times on Why the Impact of School Closings Widened Economic & Racial Learning Gaps.

Over the past two years, parents in Rochester have cited much of what The New York Times reported and the desire for the politics to be removed from the process in an effort to focus on what is in the best interest of the students. Those cries not only fell upon deaf ears, they were pushed into silence through the use of egregious tactics such as cease and desist letters and police reports.

What Anness Has Ignored

Here is a look at the events over the past two years that Anness has refused to take any action on or even acknowledge despite her responsibilities as a member of the RCS Board of Education:

• Deputy Superintendent Fragomeni called the employer of a parent critical of the district.
• District employees spend parts of their day collecting social media posts critical of the district.
• Superintendent Shaner berated a parent in public, Anness was witness to the exchange.
• The district’s blatant violation of its own anti-harassment and retaliation policies.
• Failing to Investigate a citizen’s complaints as the RCS process requires
• Failure to take action when a student was bullied over masks

What Anness has Given Attention to

• A chance to advocate for gun control after the tragedy at Oxford High School.
• A chance to divide the community by endorsing the claim that “there are counter actions being taken to disrupt the efforts of creating an inclusive environment within the district” when parents questioned sexually explicit material.

Contributing To The Failing Of Public Schools

If Anness wants to focus on her political career and activism, that is fine. However, she cannot do it as a member of the Rochester Community Schools’ Board of Education. Her politics have no place on a Public School Board. Nationally politics are a major contributing factor in the declining enrollment in public education and we cannot stand for this in our own community. Clearly, her political desires consume enough of her time that they inhibit her ability to perform her basic functions as a member of the Board of Education and that is a problem that cannot be ignored.