BRUNSWICK
The author of a petition seeking the reversal of a school board decision has sounded off on changes made to the Change.org document, after more than 300 people signed on.
The online petition calls for the Brunswick School Board to change its decision to move the fifth grade from Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School in order to solve an overcrowding problem.
As of 3:20 p.m. Wednesday, 352 had signed.
The petition had its wording changed since it went live last month. A reference to a case against the school district by the Maine Human Rights Commis- sion alleging a former junior high student was harassed and bullied was omitted, after the petition was signed by at least 328 people. That alteration raised ethical questions.
The petition’s author, Christopher Watkinson, said he couldn’t say for sure when the petition was edited to remove reference to the MHRC case.
“The petition is being constantly edited in minor ways, in order to address comments and suggestions from members of the community, in an effort to make it easier to read and to more explicitly bring our goals into focus, while retaining the spirit of the original document,” Watkinson wrote in an email to The Times Record. “We continually strive to make this issue accessible to those that are still undecided on the issue, but can see the benefit of taking a different approach to the problems our schools currently face.”
So far, Watkinson said, signees have been kept upto date on changes made to the petition after they sign it.
“All parties that have signed the Change.org petition get frequent updates as the document is edited and as developments in the community progress, and I haven’t received a single request to be removed from the petition,” he wrote.
Watkinson said the case was referenced to provide an example as to why the junior high school wasn’t an appropriate environment for 10- year-olds.
The reference was edited out after receiving feedback from the community, he said.
As far as whether it’s ethical to change a petition once it’s been signed, Watkinson said the issue isn’t relevant.
“While I can see how this could initially raise some questions, let me be blunt: There is no ethical issue here. This is not a petition about the civil rights dispute; it’s a petition asking the school board to reverse it’s decision to send the entire fifth grade cohort to BJHS. That aim was explicitly clear when the online petition was created on Dec. 23, and it remains explicitly clear now,” he wrote. “ … Whether or not the civil rights dispute is referenced in the petition is immaterial to the expressed goal of the petition.”
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