WATERTOWN — Community members and parents remain divided in the Watertown Unified School District.
Many voiced both concerns and support over what some describe as a conservative shift in the school board's direction.
TMJ4 was invited to attend both a protest and the board meeting by residents worried after several board members resigned from their positions.
"They don't seem to be listening to other people. They've decided that they have one particular — fairly conservative path that they want to go down," a retired employee of WUSD, Barb Weiss said.
Protesters gathered outside the district building before the meeting, with cars honking in support as parents and students held signs expressing their concerns.
"To see it going downhill so fast is very disturbing to me," Weiss said.
The meeting's main agenda item was appointing two new board members following multiple resignations, a decision that has heightened community tensions.
Inside the packed meeting room, community members on both sides of the issue shared their perspectives. Students also stepped forward to voice their opinions.
Watch: Watertown school board appoints new members, community remains divided
"Please keep your religion and your hate out of my very public school system," Watertown student, Layla Turner said.
However, not everyone sees the board's direction as problematic. Some community members expressed appreciation for the current leadership.
"I have not observed any toxic environment or adversarial attitudes from any of you. I think you've been very professional and I'm just so thankful for each one of you," Watertown resident, Mary Patzer said.
Former board member Kate Lapin urged the current board to consider diversity of thought in their appointments.
"Select and appoint two new board members that maybe don't agree with your opinions or ideologies," Lapin said.
Some community members specifically advocated for more conservative policies.
"And vote for policies that not only remove DEI and CRT from all statements from our schools but remove permanently all indoctrination," said Diane, a community member.
The board filled the two vacant seats with David Handyside, a longtime educator, and Linda Oberbrunner, a social worker.
This story was reported by Megan Lee and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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