Greeley Principal Announces Advisory Committee

After meeting before spring break with Horace Greeley High School student council President Tim Bloom in response to his critical letter of officials, Principal Robert Rhodes announced that he was forming a Principal Advisory Committee to get students' input.

In a letter sent to the Greeley community before spring break, a copy of which was obtained by Patch, Rhodes took a reflective tone and described his first year at the schol as "an Entry year."

"One of my Entry conclusions is that your voice is one of the untapped reservoirs at Greeley," he wrote. "Wherever it is added, your ideas and perspective improve the outcome in innumerable ways. For me, the next step is to create a Principal’s Advisory Committee, a group of students that meet regularly to help me think through the challenges and give me feedback about how Horace Greeley runs. Please send me an email if you think you are interested, and I will share more information with you."

Bloom's initial letter was published March 15 in New Castle NOW, went viral and garnered more than 200 comments. In it, he criticized the school's administration, specifically for how it handled the denial of an event request that he made, and argue that there is a culture of political correctness that pervades. The status of the event that Bloom request, a mix of a color war and field day, appears for now to be up in the air, based on Bloom's subsequent meeting with Rhodes.

Meanwhile, Bloom has a wait-and-see outlook for the committee. He believes that how effective it will be is yet to be determined, and depends on who is on it.

"If they do allow the committee to be filled with outspoken students who have strong opinions and won't take all of the fluff that the administration does throw out, then it has potential," he stated.