Editor’s Note: The following was submitted for submission by Stacey Delmhorst, president of the Westport Education Association

The current situation in Westport – regarding the Staples Athletic Department – has gone from a heated public discourse to an absolute disgrace. While healthy dialogue and disagreement are expected in any passionate community, the tone, tactics, and treatment of individuals have crossed a line.

This line has been crossed through multiple online behaviors, and now a WEA member, teacher and coach who has been a part of the community for their entire life has been targeted. A recent blog post farcically stated that it was not intended to judge this teacher but then went on to render alleged misconduct and unfair judgments motivating a band of online commenters to serve as a jury. Let’s be clear: This vocal minority is attempting to try this educator with no facts, investigation, or real insight while accusing Staples Administration of mistreating the soccer coach in precisely this manner. This is hypocritical and sends the wrong message to all of our dedicated teacher-coaches. It is also a terrible example to our students.

As educators, we are witnessing adults engage in behavior we would never accept from the young people we teach every day. Public shaming, divisive rhetoric, and the weaponization of social media have become far too common. The WEA is deeply concerned about the example being set. We believe our community deserves better and more importantly, our students deserve better. In our classrooms, we teach students to resolve conflict with respect, to listen before making judgments, to seek facts before assigning blame, and to disagree without dehumanizing others. We expect the adults in our community to model these same values.

We expect everyone to do better.

The WEA Leadership Team,

Stacey Delmhorst, President

David Willick, High School Vice-President

April Bassick, Middle School Vice-President

Lori Buskey, Elementary School Vice-President

Steven Cerny, Treasurer