Message from Heath Dixon, QAE PTSA President

QAE Community,

As President of the QAE PTSA, part of my role is spokesperson for the organization. That said, comments from my personal Facebook account or email are personal opinions and not PTSA opinions. The same goes for comments or messages from other PTSA leadership. We will use PTSA sources, such as the PTSA page and Rocket Reader, for official PTSA communication.

The PTSA has not adopted a position on efforts to reinstate David Elliott. Advocacy to reinstate David is being driven by parents (some of whom are in PTSA leadership, but who are acting in their personal capacity). Please know that being in PTSA leadership doesn't mean they're always representing the PTSA and it also doesn't mean they can't advocate for what they believe.

That does not mean the PTSA has not been engaged. Regardless of the merits of Mr. Elliott’s separation from the school or efforts to reinstate him, the manner in which it was handled was unacceptable. The abrupt timing, the failure to have an interim principal in place or to communicate who was in charge during the initial days of the transition, and the abrupt and unresponsive communication undeniably and unnecessarily disrupted our school community. When the district reached out to set time to meet with parents the PTSA agreed to facilitate that meeting. We met with the Chief of Schools to try to learn more about what happened and to express our concerns over the mishandling of the transition.

The driving goal of the PTSA is to serve the interests of all of our students, teachers, and parents. In part that has been reaching out to Ms. Jessee find ways to support her. In part it has been providing information to empower parents to advocate for their families by informing them of available resources. We have stayed away from advocating for a specific resolution to the situation, while advocating for improvements in the way the district handles communication with our school. Some parents think we’re doing too much, other parents think we’re doing too little. I think that means we’re walking the right line. But if you think we can be doing better, let me know: president@qaeptsa.org.

The PTSA encourages parents to continue to support the teachers by working with class coordinators to find ways to volunteer or otherwise support the classrooms. Please do not ask the teachers their opinions on the situation: let them focus on teaching students. The PTSA also encourages all parents in the QAE community to be kind, safe, and fair in discussing this situation. The issue has caused a lot of emotional reaction, making it a perfect time for us to model the dispute resolution skills we're teaching our children through positive discipline and social and emotional learning.

Thank you,

Heath Dixon
QAE PTSA President
president@qaeptsa.org