At a recent Falmouth School Board meeting that was open to the community, the discussion centered on whether or not Falmouth schools should maintain the current hybrid plan with all-virtual Wednesdays or move to an in-person Wednesday model with two separate cohorts.

At the onset, momentum seemed in favor of the latter option, likely influenced by a vocal number of parents in Falmouth, but the conversation quickly became an impassioned series of testimonies from professional educators on the merits of maintaining the status quo. What should have been a substantive question-and-answer on the part of the School Board ended in asking for more time to ask more questions (off the record?).

My point is this: Pitting parents against the strong opinions of professional educators is bad for our community. Many of us who have the privilege to choose Falmouth did so on account of the quality of the public school system. And if we believe that teachers are the foundation of a quality education system and experience, then ignoring their qualified opinion on a topic like this is, well, disregarding the heart of what makes Falmouth schools top-notch.

I encourage our School Board to consider the strong opinions of perhaps one of our town’s greatest assets – its educators.

Matthew Wolcott
Falmouth