School Committee member’s ouster unfair

I am saddened and disappointed to hear and read about the ousting of Tom Fanning from the Regional School Committee by the Pelham School Committee.

Mr. Fanning has spent most of his life and professional career in support of childrens’ education. He was a math teacher and computer skills teacher over his career which spanned from 1976 through 2014. He taught in Longmeadow, the Amherst Middle School and the Pelham Elementary School. Mr. Fanning was a member of the Pelham School Committee and Regional School Committee from 1986 to 1993. He helped oversee the renovation and expansion of the Amherst High School by joining the building committee in 1997.

Mr. Fanning has dedicated himself to kids and education. He moved to Pelham in the 1970s and has seen many changes in the Amherst/Pelham school system for better or worse.

Because of the reported bullying of LGBTQ+ students in the Amherst schools, Mr. Fanning was motivated to rejoin the Regional School Committee and was elected this past May. He was looking forward to contributing to positive change by becoming a Pelham representative to the Regional School Committee.

It is my understanding that Mr. Fanning was removed by the Pelham School Committee as a Regional School Committee representative, and replaced by William Scherr. Mr. Scherr, (who is a gay parent ) was chosen, it appears in part, because he is gay. As a gay person myself, I find this to be absurd to think that only a gay person can have compassion for the bullying of gays or any other student.

As stated in a Sept. 29 Amherst Bulletin article there are also questions about whether policy procedures were properly followed in reappointing Regional School Committee representatives and the ousting of Mr. Fanning.

Through personal experience with Mr. Fanning I can say he is a gay ally, and a person of integrity with a deep sense of fairness and compassion. These qualities along with his lifelong experience as an educator in my view made him the right person for his appointment to the Regional School Committee. The Pelham School Committee and the Regional School Committee has pushed out a valuable asset to the town of Pelham and the Amherst/Pelham Regional school system.

CydnieReiman

Pelham