School Officials Respond to Tim Bloom's Letter

Chappaqua school officials responded at Wednesday's board meeting to a critical online letter from Horace Greeley High School's student council president, which has since gone viral in scope.

The letter, written by senior Tim Bloom, was posted last Friday on New Castle Now. It has garnered more than 200 comments - they are largely sympathetic - and a pick up from parenting website Free Range Kids.

In his letter, Bloom criticized Greeley administrators both for the denial of a field day-style "Greeley Games" event that he proposed and for what he believes is a culture that makes it cumbersome for having student activities.

"Quite frankly, I’m not at all surprised, as this seems to be par for the course these days," Bloom wrote about the Greeley Games denial from administrators, which he said came following two weeks of consideration. "It has gotten to the point where every single member of the Student Council is disappointed with the way the administration is trying to dismantle the very things that had made Greeley great for so long."

Bloom also felt that there is a culture of control and political correctness that has taken hold at Greeley.

"This school has gone from a place of which I was proud to be President to a place that I can’t wait to leave," he wrote. "If it is your long-term plan to oversee a community of grade-obsessed, one dimensional, disinterested students then continue to do what you are doing. If you want a vibrant, engaged community of students who participate in their education more fully, then you need to reexamine how you interact with us. Less police state and PC paranoia and more positivity would help."

Reached for comment, Greeley Principal Robert Rhodes said he met with Tim and another student government officer on Wednesday for two and a half hours. He feels that the meeting helped improve things.

“We just needed to sit down and talk through things and that seemed to help a lot," he said.

Asked about Bloom's specific grievances over event approval, Rhodes said there are "so many issues there" and added "many of them turned out to be non-issues.”

Rhodes is set to meet with the full student government on Thursday. 

Superintendent Lyn McKay also addressed the issue in her report at Wednesday's school board meeting, striking an optimistic tone about the new dialogue in response to the letter.

“I think it is really important that students and their principals have time to engage in problem solving processes, and as a district we're deeply committed to helping students learn how to productively negotiate this kind of problem solving," she said. "I am confident that it will go well, I am confident that they will make Greeley better than ever and I'm sure we're going to be hearing more in the coming days.”

School board President Victoria Tipp expressed confidence in administrators and students to continue a process that she said belongs within the school and between the two sides. Tipp, referencing the district's stated goals of advancing collaboration, creativity and critical thinking for students, noted that such processes happen in real life.

“Those aren't just words," she said. Regarding the new dialogue, Tipp hopes that both sides will be successful in working together.