Catherine M. Tokarz: School members should represent diverse community

To The Daily Sun,

I was one of 300+ people at the virtual SAU #30 School Board meeting Dec. 15. I was a bit late to the meeting so I missed Chair Heather Lounsbury’s opening statement nor did I hear Superintendent Steve Tucker’s remarks regarding School Board member Dawn Johnson. Most citizens kindly and respectfully requested that Ms. Johnson resign from the School Board based on her inability to care for the students and staff of the Laconia School District following her posting of a racist and anti-Semitic cartoon in at least two of her social media outlets from a neo-Nazi website. Several of her fellow board members were also in support of her resignation, as were some teachers. After all, how can teachers teach students to be kind and inclusive if a member of their school board thinks it’s okay to spread hatefulness against a certain race or religion?  If Ms. Johnson successfully serves out this term, I do hope that she will not hold a grudge against these teachers. If you’re not familiar with a Zoom screen, it looks a little like the old Hollywood Squares Game. Some squares had photos on view, some were on “live,” some had memes, and several squares had messages that all could read. They included “Hate Has No Place in the People’s House. Resign Dawn Johnson,” “Hate Has No Home Here,” “No Ignorance, No Hate, No Apology, Too Late,” “Dawn Johnson Must Resign . . . #ByeDawn.” When Board Chair Lounsbury offered the mic to Ms. Johnson, she stated that she already apologized, will not resign and that the community can speak to her attorney if they have any further questions. However, she did not disclose who her attorney was. Following business of the board’s agenda, people were allowed to speak again in a public session. Ms. Johnson took to her mic and loudly lashed out. Afterward, several parents shared that their children just witnessed Ms. Johnson’s behavior and were shocked. Now, we have a wonderfully diverse community here in the great City on the Lakes. Many of you are native Laconians while others of us carefully selected Laconia to make our home. That makes us all winners. Dawn Johnson was elected to support the children of the Laconia School District . . . that includes all of Laconia’s children. Because we are a diverse and welcoming community, our neighbors have created homes with the look of the world comprised of families of gays, lesbians, African-Americans, flatlanders, Muslims, Evangelicals, those of Jewish, protestant and Catholic religions, those who find their God on the links of a Sunday morning, or on the lake with a fishing rod, those of Hispanic, Czech, Bosnian, Polish, Italian, French, Serbia, Dutch, English, German, Asian, Scotland, Ireland, Canadian ancestry, and the original native Indians and even Appalachian-Americans, like me. This is who we are. This is why over 300 people came to listen and speak at the Laconia School Board meeting this evening. Our children and the grands are listening.

Catherine M. Tokarz

Laconia