High Point High School student Nicholas Southard has been trying to save his school's German Program. Many Sussex County schools have lost state aid including High Point. The school's board of education has proposed making cuts to the German Program to save money. Last month Southard and another student started a petition to save the program. Southard also put in a request under The Open Public Records Act to see if there were other ways money could be saved instead of cutting the German Program. One expense he questioned was the raise given to School Superintendent Scott Ripley. Now Southard's mother Valerie Kolb has told the New Jersey Herald a school official tried to silence her son in a "closed door meeting" two weeks ago. Kolb says Curriculum Director Seamus Campbell told Southard it was "disrespectful" to bring up Ripley's pay and any future attempts to speak to the board of education would be "frowned upon." Southard did not go to the April 16th board of education meeting. Campbell would not comment to the Herald on the matter. I think what this young man did was perfectly fine. It is not disrespectful for taxpayers to question how their money is spent. His parents are taxpayers and supported what he was doing. It's called dissent and you can't have a free country without it. President Eisenhower once said:"May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion."
Source: New Jersey Herald