After hearing of the news that a beloved teacher, baseball coach, and mentor to many of the students in the Bayport Blue Point School district was denied tenure, we felt as parents, community members, students, and athletes, compelled to make our voices heard.
A plan was put into action to try and get answers from the BOE and our superintendent Dr. Butera as to how or why this could happen to a man with such integrity, professionalism, and a true understanding of what it means to mentor and guide children not only in the academic aspect, but in life as well. Several parents spoke as well as 2 varsity baseball players at the April 22nd board meeting asking the involved parties to reconsider their tenure decision. This video can be viewed on the BBP school website under the link "Board Meeting Videos".
The comments on this topic can be viewed approximately 56 minutes into the meeting. It took a tremendous amount of courage for these young men to stand up and speak up for what they believed in..a man that has inspired them in ways only a parent could dream of! I felt it necessary to post this story as I believe it would truly be a loss for this entire community to lose such a man and send him off to bless another community with his presence.
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Our community is a better place with him in it! It is our hope that the board and the superintendent will take the feelings of the students, athletes, parents, and teachers into consideration and honor our request to tenure Mr. Grunenwald .
Unfortunately due to privacy restrictions the board of ed and the superintendent will not/cannot respond to us regarding this matter with their decision or if they have even had a discussion about the support we have submitted to them on behalf of this teachers impact on his students.
Find out what's happening in Sayville-Bayportwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
We respect the process and hard work that goes into determining tenure and we feel that as with many other topics that should concern every community member, it is so very important to listen to the community and what it is they want...after all they are the taxpayers, and most have children in these schools that can be directly affected by the incorrect decision to let a teacher such as this go.
It is with much hope that we keep Mr. G dressed in Phantom Blue and respectfully feel we deserve a response. If anyone has anything to contribute to this story please feel free to contact me by posting a comment!
