Drew Davidson

After viewing the most recent Hamilton School Board meeting, I am absolutely appalled by the behavior of the entire Hamilton City School Board. I am specifically speaking about the words, actions, and attitude of School Board President Laurin Sprague, towards parents and citizens of our community whom are concerned about our students.

When the floor was open to the public, the first speaker acknowledged his support for the mask mandates within the district. It took a very welcome turn after that speaker. All of the following speakers provided evidence against the mandates and their lack of support. I stand with them.

I highly recommend watching the video of the meeting for yourself, so you can see the truly, extremely inappropriate conduct of Mr. Sprague. This conduct began with the second citizen-speaker. Before she began, she asked if the board would be willing to look at the documents that she had provided, and Mr. Sprague responded with, “I’d rather you just go ahead and speak.” I’m sure what he said was very true. He and the rest of the school board are not interested in facts or data. They simply want power and control over our children. This was clearly stated by the the parent when she said, “The damage to our constitutional rights as parents to make health and safety decisions in the best interests of our children is unethical, unlawful, and prosecutable in the court of law.”

The next speaker was Mrs. Wagers. She informed the board that she has removed her child from being educated in the district. This is very sad to hear but I fully agree with her decision to do so, with the current board in power. She and others threatened the board with lawsuits, very similar to what we have seen around the country. Following the ruling by Benton County Circuit Judge, Xollie Duncan, the Bentonville School District in Arkansas lost their case against parents who filed the lawsuit over mask mandates by the school district.

The next speaker was Mrs. Stargel. She attempted to clarify a statement that was previously made by Superintendent Holbrook. Mr. Sprague rudely interrupted her, saying that she is, “supposed to address the presiding officer— and that’s me.” She tried to further explain that she was simply clarifying a statement made by Mr. Holbrook at the last meeting, but her explanation fell on deaf ears. After her time was wasted by Mr. Sprague, he refused to add that time back onto the clock for her to speak. She quotes Mr. Holbrook as saying, “No one was bullied by the board of health.” He, of course, meant that the school board itself has created these mandates. Mr. Sprague cuts her off and asks her to step down even though her time was not up. He simply did not want to hear her speak. In this interaction, Mr. Sprague was arrogant and discourteous. A complete unprofessional and clearly obsessed with the power of his position.

The final resident to speak was Mr. Theodore. He criticized the board for believing they knew better than the parents. He rightfully claimed that they look down upon the parents and refuse to allow the parents to raise their children in the way that they beat see fit.

Following this point in the meeting, the floor was closed to the public. After Superintendent Holbrook said countless ridiculous and senseless statements, those in attendance became restless. One parent began to protest what was said and was removed from the meeting. Then, the power hungry Laurin Sprague seemed to become an MLB umpire throwing people out of a game, as he was literally ejecting people from the public meeting at his will. It was like watching Oprah give out cars, except all Mr. Sprague wanted to do was give his dissenters the boot.

Our School Board is heavily focused on a mask mandate for our students, rather than solving any of the major problems we are burdened with, such as Hamilton receiving the LOWEST four-year graduation rate of ANY public school district in both Butler and Warren County (with a 79.5%), as reported by the Journal News, per The Ohio Department of Education. The actions of the entire school board are shamefully humiliating. I’m embarrassed to be a Hamilton alumni at this moment in time. I encourage all members of the district to continue speaking their minds and to ignore the threats made by politicians and nameless bureaucrats. Fight like hell for the children of our community.

The Hamilton Central YMCA hosted a great event for our community today, by supplying our Hamilton City School District students with back to school material. Glad I could be there to show my support for a local organization and their awesome cause.