School Committee urges Town Meeting not to support Finance Committee’s $500,000 budget cut | News

WILMINGTON — The School Committee meeting last Wednesday night started with public comments before they got to the Superintendent’s Re­port and other updates. The first comment came from Jeffrey Cohen, who claimed that Wilming­ton’s parents may be pul­ling their eighth graders from the district due to concerns with political opinions, “gender neutral propaganda,” COVID-19 protocol and mask mandates, and critical race theory in schools.

He reminded the public of the fact that the retention of eighth graders in 2021 was 52 percent and some of the reasons identified by parents in a re­cent survey including cur­riculum and sports offerings.

The second public commenter suggested that Wil­­mington’s reputation has been harmed by re­cent news including the Fi­nance Committee proposing to cut the budget, the teachers working with­out a contract, and the constant turnover of ad­ministrators. He pleaded with educators, the School Committee, and parents to look for data-driven solutions to make the district better.

Next, Superintendent Dr. Glenn Brand delivered his regular Super­inten­dent’s Report. He shared that athletic summer camps were planned to return in full force this summer beginning in the end of June.

“The heart of this is about providing the op­portunity for students to get involved in meaningful and…