Letter

Leedey District School Board,

         It is as a concerned parent that I address this letter to you today.  I am asking you to please consider the rehiring of Ronnie Dupree for the school  year of 07-08.  If you were to ask the community how they feel about Mr. Dupree’s performance as a principal, you would see the overwhelming unhappiness with the manner in which he treats students.
         As you may be aware, my daughter went through a very trying time.  She found herself struggling just to make it through each day without getting into some kind of trouble.  As parents, it was very difficult for us to face her issues and admit she had a problem; but, that’s exactly what we did.  We sought the advice of a professional when all our efforts had failed.  Our daughter even stepped up and asked for help. 
         When we took her to a doctor to better understand what was going on they tested her for several things.  She was diagnosed with depression and attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity. She began a medication regimen that made her function in the manner that we had been used to. She went from D’s and F’s to A’s and B’s in a little over 9 weeks. This in itself is an amazing transformation.
         Throughout this ordeal, we maintained contact with Mr. Dupree, and the teachers involved in her daily activities.  Every effort was made on our part to deal with this issue. On several occasions Mr. Dupree himself made phone calls to me informing me of Ashli’s wrongdoings; skipping school, leaving school property in vehicle during lunch, and cell phone usage.  Her father and I addressed these things at home by proper punishment.
         On many of those occasions  Mr. Dupree called me, the accusations being made were false.  One call in particular, he accused Ashli of leaving school property in her vehicle and was about to suspend her, when I informed him she hadn’t driven her vehicle to school in over a month.  Another occasion he called and was telling me he wasn’t going to take anymore “crap” from Ashli when I asked what now, he said she had skipped school last Friday.  When Ashli was confronted on this she told me I was more than welcome to go ask her teachers if she was there or not.  I called Mr. Dupree the very next morning and asked him where he got his information and I was put on hold for 10 minutes.  When he returned he said that he was mistaken and just “had it in his head that she wasn’t there”.  There are many more of these accusations that I was able to prove were false and not once did he apologize to Ashli, or me, for being wrong.
         These incidents caused our family a great deal of grief. 
         In our family’s personal experience in dealing with Mr. Dupree, we have faced a great deal of frustration in his inability to recognize and appreciate our daughters’ efforts.  She did nothing but try to make things right; she even apologized to everyone.  We had several meetings with him and several of the teachers explaining the situation and asking for them to allow her to start over.  She received nothing but constant surveillance and suspicion.  Nothing she did was good enough; therefore, she finally gave up and quit trying.
         Teachers usually follow the lead and adopt the attitude and approaches of their administration.  Positive encouragement versus suspicion and negativity towards any student showing great efforts toward change would certainly benefit any school.  If Mr. Dupree had stepped up and shown a positive attitude toward Ashli, then I’m sure the teaching staff would have done the same.  With a little extra recognition and a simple pat on the back, her efforts may not have seemed fruitless.  No child deserves to be treated with the disrespect and harassment that my child had to endure from this man.
         I appreciate you taking the time to read this letter.  I hope you will give heavy consideration to what I’ve said for the betterment and well-being of students in the future at Leedey Public Schools.

Sincerely,