As an educator who has taught in the Falmouth Schools for 20 years, I am deeply appreciative of Matthew Wolcott’s March 6 letter, in which he responds to recent Falmouth board meetings.

For the March 1 meeting, educators were tasked with laying out for the School Board the implications of removing the virtual Wednesdays from our hybrid teaching model. I am not being hyperbolic when I say that I left that virtual meeting with such pride for my fellow educators. For over two hours, our educators demonstrated that getting our students back in the building on Wednesdays would actually not be a huge boon for our student population. In fact, this seemingly small change would have a myriad of negative effects for many of our students and provide little actual increased face-to-face instruction for our general population.

As I am constantly reinforcing with my high school English students, one makes a persuasive argument when one effectively weaves both logical evidence and emotional, anecdotal examples to support a claim. Evidence needs to be provided in an organized format from credible sources and in a respectful manner. This was all accomplished at the recent School Board meeting.

We are all exhausted by this year. Educators worry about their students, worry about their peers and then go home and worry about their own families. It is deeply rewarding to hear from community members such as Matthew Wolcott, who correctly notes that “teachers are the foundation of a quality education.”

Julie Blodgett
Falmouth High School English Department
Bath resident

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