To the editor,

In my ongoing efforts to obtain information from our school committee that should be readily available to the public - efforts that have resulted in pending Open Meeting Law complaints - I have learned that our school district has spent at least $120,000 on equity and diversity endeavors over the last two years.

Those expenditures were a combination of hiring equity consultants, bringing in speakers and authors, and conducting surveys of our children. One “equity” survey conducted in February 2021, a time when our children were at home three days a week not getting an education, cost the taxpayers $14,000. Someone named Liz Kleinrock earned a hefty $16,000. Christina Brown was paid $12,400, and Jamele Adams was paid $4,500 for supposedly “serving as an instrument in the orchestra of Love, Inclusion and Trust,” whatever that means.

The list of expenditures is long and the spending goes on. The district is currently committed to a three-year contract with a company called Teachers 21, Inc., to the tune of $40,500 for “equity” training.

Meanwhile, the recent budget meeting of the ORR School Committee included discussions of cutting a teacher position, all this while the urgent issue of our children becoming addicted to dangerous vaping products they are purchasing and using on school premises is being ignored by the school committee.

Our community is now facing a choice: we can vote to continue on this path of division and decline, or we can vote for common sense, accountability, and transparency.

The health of our children, our school district, and our community depends on our choices on May 16.

Kathleen LeClair, Mattapoisett