Letter writer Sara Gacnik, a Summit High School English language arts teacher, has claimed the 4 For the Kids candidates haven’t been in the district long enough to make some of the claims they’ve made.

Let’s look at the facts: five years in a row of falling academic scores, a lack of transparency and $100,000 unrequired severance to the previous superintendent. Those aren’t claims. Those are facts. Summit Daily News has reported extensively on every one of these.

She also claims that we raised exorbitant amounts of money. We asked members of a parents group to donate, and they were extremely generous because they, too, are concerned about the direction of the district. Again, Summit Daily has reported that our largest donation was $500 and did not find any special interest donations.

What’s most disturbing is her claim that teachers have had “hateful interactions” with the slate’s candidates. Not one of our kids has ever had Gacnik as a teacher. And none of us have ever had a hateful interaction with a teacher. We have pointed out our concerns via email with a couple of teachers who have lectured our kids about their white privilege, about maps being racist, about spending four weeks on gender and identity and four weeks on why the American dream is dead for everyone but whites.

In these incidents, our main concern has been that kids are way behind, scores are dropping, and a few teachers need to get focused on academics through approved materials. Parents have the right to teach their kids anything they want. Teachers should be focused on the course they have been assigned. This is the core of why we are running.

We have not personally attacked any candidate or teacher, and we believe the overwhelming majority of teachers are fantastic.