Petition Against Proposed Derry Township School Board Policy No. 824 Until Changes Are Made

It is important to have interaction with teachers as far as the students. If boundaries are made, students and teachers will be unable/unlikely to communicate with one another in times of need.

In taking away dialog with teacher's and the fostering of parent, teacher relationships, already at risk children could get lost in the system. Suspected child abuse could potentially go unreported, and guidance counselors would not be able to fulfill their duties. A school is a community, and as they say, "it takes a village.". We are all in this together, and putting fear of disciplinary action on the teacher will not do right by the children.

As a former student of HHS, I would not be where I am if not for the love and connections I received from many of my teachers not only in high school but younger grades as well.

As an HHS alumni and current high school teacher, I support this petition and it's constructive intent.

HHS 1994 My kids are going to attend in a few more years and I hope they have amazing teachers like I did. They should feel comfortable talking their teachers not fear that they'll say something wrong to the people they trust.

Agreed! Students do learn to develop relationships and problem solving skills. Guidance counselor are not therapists. It takes a village to raise a child

Class of 1995

This policy will label every teacher, employee or volunteer a criminal every time a student armed with it gets upset at one of them. A simple "He or she asked me how my weekend was." will be in violation of the policy. There are so many holes in this policy, specifically the technical portions of it, and it will be impossible to verify adherence. More importantly, the loss of human communications/common sense that has left our society will only postpone important lessons our students should be learning from qualified personnel and push it to the street or online. Most sections of the policy that everyone would agree on are covered already in other policies. This is not about safety, it is yet just another example of politicians pandering to the lunatic fringe which has become mainstream in town. The board members on the policy committee that put this forward should resign immediately. This is a total abuse of power. Our community has been blessed with the best teachers and administrators. I would hate to have them leave because of something as ridiculous as this.

As an HHS alumni ('91), I generally do not reach out to most in my past. However, my entire childhood was spent in the DTSD. I had a couple challenging years in high school, going through the process of becoming an exchange student...something that friends or family could not quite understand enough to guide me through. It was in incredible teacher at HHS who made the largest impact in my entire life, helping me steer through those trials, encouraged me during my year abroad, and welcomed me back, helping me aclimate back into my life in Hershey. To this day, I cherish her, as I always will. I truly hate to think that a damper is trying to be placed on such a unique bond of student and teacher. Yes, there are some in the world that should not be allowed to be near students, but (!), wouldn't the more logical route to correcting this possibly be in more stringent guidelines in, say, psych evals as part of completing the finals before getting the teaching degree, or possibly having the school district be responsible for having potential teachers complete a psych eval before offering them the position to be allowed near the students... There are options... I'm not an expert by any means! However, taking away the student/teacher relationship because of what is happening in society will NOT help the situation, but instead, will only accerbate the problems in the future. Our kids need support from the school community. Not every student has a home life which encourages them to open up at home, or open up to a guidance counselor, with whom they have no relationship. I would also like to bring to light something that many may not have thought of... DTSD is in a unique situation of having many students who live in both worlds of Hershey.... Being raised in MHS because their parents work there, while attending the public schools. While this living experience can forge the backbone of some students, it can also crumble some students who may not know where they fit in the

HHS class of 95

This is the most most destructive choice you could make for a young learner. This wil severely hindering the learning experience in our school. Some classes I learned the most in was due to the close yet professional bond I've had with many teacher at hhs

Ridiculous!!

I want teachers speaking into the life of my kids. The counselors are not with my kids with any comparison to the time teachers are. Speaking to a trusted teacher is far better and easier for my kids than to make an appointment with a counselor and have to tell their issue to a stranger. We cannot take this critical part of a teachers job away from them. That's why people are attracted to teaching. They want to make a difference in a students life, not just teach a subject. The quality of teaching will go way down if this goes through.

As an HHS Alumni (95), this proposed policy with its current verbiage is troubling. A large part of what made my experience at HHS amazing was my relationships with my teachers. They were mentors, teachers and many became friends that I truly felt cared about me and what was happening in my life. Part of the school experience is building relationships... This continues through college and into the workplace. If you remove that we may as well have robots teach our children

certainly hope this is not implemented. Will do more harm than good.

HHS Class of 1995

As a student at HHS, I valued the relationships that I had with my teachers, and the glimpses of their personal lives that they let me see. As a teacher, I understand how important it is for students and teachers to know each other as people in order to build a trusting, respectful, possible classroom community!

It would be horrible if this happened. Break talks during class are what keep me focused

Hasn't human interaction decreased enough with electronics and social media? We still need human interaction and not everyone relates the same with different people. Children look to their teachers for guidance and acceptance. And they love the friendly ones

If this policy gets put in place we might as well be home schooled ¯\_(ツ)_/¯