BRUNSWICK

Is it OK to change the wording of a petition after it has been signed?

That’s a question being asked after edits were made to a Change.org petition seeking to stop the move of fifth graders to Brunswick Junior High School — after at least 328 people had signed it.

At issue is a plan approved last year by the school board to move the fifth grade from Harriet Beecher Stowe Elementary School in order to solve an overcrowding problem.

Among other issues, the Change.org petition cited worries about bullying at the junior high school, specifically referencing a pending lawsuit filed by the Maine Human Rights Commission alleging that a former student was harassed to the point where he was forced to attend another school.

“Most disconcerting about this: The School Department insists they make efforts to curb such behavior. Despite these efforts, students continued to be victimized in the hallways and classrooms of BJHS,” the petition had read, in part.

As of Friday, when 328 people had already signed the petition, the language regarding the commission’s case still appeared. However, references to the MHRC case appear to have been removed some time before Saturday evening. The wording appeared in a Monday story in The Times Record.

The petition is to be delivered to the Brunswick School Board tonight.

Efforts to reach the Change.org petition’s author, former school board candidate Christopher Watkinson, for comment were unsuccessful.

On Tuesday, Watkinson added an update reminding signers to attend tonight’s board meeting. Watkinson wrote, in part: “Some of the language in the description of the petition has been pared down to make it easier to read and to more explicitly bring our goals into focus, but it retains the spirit of the original document that you’ve endorsed. We want to be sure all concerned parties are represented as much as possible, while still making it accessible to people that are undecided on this issue, but can see the benefit in taking a different approach to the problems our schools face.”

As of press time today, the number of signatures on the Change.org petition reached 350.

A letter that appeared in The Times Record on Dec. 30 is attached to the petition and does reference the commission’s case against the school. That letter was signed by 11 members of the Brunswick community, including Watkinson and former Brunswick Town Councilor Ben Tucker.

Speaking on Tuesday, Tucker said he was less familiar with the online petition than he was with a paper petition circulated on Election Day. That petition garnered about 860 signatures.

Tucker noted differences of opinions between opponents to the move.

“The bottom line is a lot of people have concerns, and not all of them are the same,” Tucker said.

Two Brunswick residents have called into question the ethics of changing the wording of a petition after it had been signed.

Michelle Small praised faculty and staff at the junior high but said she would like to see the school board reverse its position on moving the fifth grade. That age group belongs at an elementary school, not a junior high school, she said.

However, Small said she didn’t sign the Change.org petition because it referenced the MHRC complaint.

When asked about the petition’s alteration, Small said, “I’m just not sure it’s ethical to change a petition after someone’s signed it.”

Small said she did sign the petition circulated on Election Day.

Commenting on The Times Record’s website, Matt Corey wrote, in part: “Purely semantical, but is it proper to change the wording of a petition once people have signed it? That opens up a whole ‘other can of worms.’ Either way, I’m glad it was edited, because the JHS students and staff deserve better.”

Superintendent Paul Perzanoski on Tuesday declined to comment on the language change in the online petition.

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com

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