The Geneva school district has been in our news quite a bit recently, and most of our stories, reported by Brenda Schory, have exposed several problems the administration needs to address properly and transparently – immediately.

Last week, Schory’s article about Scott Ney, director of operations for the district, described how his belittling and often hostile treatment of his employees led to many resignations and early retirements. Many of the former employees explained how they went to district administration about Ney’s behavior, but seemingly nothing was done. Ney remains in his position, despite what some employees described as “verbal abuse” and other questionable behavior. One employee explained how he was directed by Ney to write “dirt” instead of “black mold” when completing building reports.

For a school district that claims to take bullying seriously, we urge officials to do a thorough investigation of the claims against Ney and then take appropriate action.

Speaking of bullying, the mother of a Geneva middle school student said at a recent school board meeting that her son was called a racial slur and was the victim of a hate crime. She told the board that nothing has been done to stop such behavior, which has no place in our schools nor in our communities – this despite what Superintendent Kent Mutchler stated to us, that this behavior has no place in District 304, and that there is a Safe Schools Tipline at www.geneva304.org where students can alert officials to bullying behavior.

Schory also reported last week that Mutchler has not posted the number of students in quarantine because of COVID-19 exposure on the district’s COVID dashboard. He claimed he would only include that information at the direction of the school board, which has not yet ordered him to do so. This would be especially helpful information. Geneva High School was forced to close for in-person learning last Thursday and Friday after too many students had to quarantine after being potentially exposed to the virus. The district had only been in its full-time in-person learning model for 10 days.

Most recently, two Geneva High School students spoke out at the April 12 school board meeting about the lack of proper mask wearing in the hallways and classrooms. I’m sure it took a lot for those two students to speak publicly about this issue, as they were essentially calling out many of their peers. Their bravery was dismissed by Mutchler as “second-hand information.”

I’m confused as to how that would be second-hand information as those two students walk the hallways every day and witness, firsthand, the lack of appropriate mask wearing among students.

Mutchler’s comments were dismissive and condescending to those students.

We should be disappointed in the Geneva school district, and I would guess that many parents and community members are, too. The administration needs to reevaluate its priorities. If the district truly won’t tolerate bullying, whether it be by staff members or students, and puts the health and safety of students and staff first, it needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror.

Some important, yet difficult conversations need to happen. Changes should be made immediately.

Geneva school district: You can, and must, do better for your employees and students.