Editor,
As recently reported, Carmel Clay Schools Superintendent Michael Beresford has asked Carmel voters to ignore “bad narratives” and vote to renew its operating referendum this November, which if passed will continue a trend of increasing tax revenue generation for CCS despite shrinking student numbers.
The main question every Carmel voter should ask themselves is whether Beresford and CCS leadership can be trusted to use these funds responsibly. After all, Beresford publicly denied the presence of pornographic books in CCS until it became impossible to do so. He has publicly inflated the number of children studying in the CCS system. CCS leadership hid from voters the source of funding for its first DEI officer. Finally, leadership refuses to responsibly address the troublesome fact that education in our schools continues to decline in quality. For example, the percentage of CCS students getting a passing grade on basic combined standardized English language arts and math proficiency testing has progressively dropped from over 90 percent just 10 years ago to under 60 percent this past year. This trend occurred in large part under Beresford’s reign.
I urge all Carmel taxpayers to hold off on voting yes on the referendum until CCS leadership can provide honest answers to legitimate questions over funding, including: How much of the funds will go directly towards teachers’ salaries rather than, say, administrative costs or highly controversial and ideological critical race theory programs like DEI or social-emotional learning? How precisely will the funds be used to increase the quality of teaching and boost achievement to its previous excellent level? And who will ensure accountability as unfortunately the majority of current school board members seem relatively disinterested in addressing these critical issues?
Allon Friedman, Carmel
