To the Editor:

The citizens of Goffstown should take hard look at Mountain View Middle School.  I can’t ignore it any longer, and here is why.

Over the last few years I’ve heard stories of wild student behavior obstructing teaching.  I’ve heard of sex, drugs, fighting and bullying.  I’ve also heard of a hands-off policy by the administration.  It has been said that they pretty much leave students alone and when it goes wrong, keep it quiet and it will pass.  But it keeps leaking out and there is too much to ignore.

Like any other mother, I think school should be a good experience, but not a free- for-all.  There can’t be any real quality education in a free-for-all: the focus is gone. The purpose is different.  If a thousand students are out of control, who is teaching?  Who is learning? 

The public school system belongs to the public and I think most people want that system to educate the students in a safe environment with acceptable behavior for a successful future.  It seems we are not getting that.

Maybe the stories we are hearing are in some way responsible for the fact that we are a District In Need of Improvement.  Why is that so?  All the things we need for an acceptable school are there.  There are teachers and students, a library and sports, computers and books.  The problem must be in the conduct.  Leadership? Guidance?

We pay a very high price for this system every year.  We elect the school board but they hire the administrators.  Do we have what we really want?  Who oversees what part of this whole thing?

I think we have a right to a more open view of the school system.  If the stories aren’t true, there is not a problem.  If they are, we need to correct it.

Anyone agree? 


Name withheld upon request,
Goffstown