To the editor:

Over the past 8 weeks, the East Bay Times has continued to highlight the anger of a small number of Barrington residents directed at our public officials - officials that WE the people elected. Our school committee members volunteer their time on behalf of our children, our families, and our community. Our school committee members are themselves members of our small town and many have children attending our public schools. They dedicate thousands of hours each year and many late nights of meetings away from their own households in service to our community.

The pandemic changed the world as we know it and made many of our jobs (especially those of us in education and healthcare) more complicated, precarious, and dangerous. Daily modifications in operations as new information became available required swift decision making even when we did not have all the answers. If one follows the policies and practices developed by the Barrington School Committee over the past 4+ years, there is a clear pattern of prioritizing the welfare of our students, our teachers + staff, and our larger community even when decisions were difficult.

As we continue to move from an emergency pandemic to living with covid, let us show our children how to solve problems with understanding using valid information, how to disagree with humanity, and how to initiate change in systems without personally attacking individuals. Having spent the majority of my adult life in Barrington actively participating in improving our schools, I am very grateful for all those that serve on our school committee - both past and present. Thank you!

Perri Leviss

Barrington