100 signatures reached
To: Mr. Hall and the Lexington School Board
Keep Mr Cody as our High School Math Teacher!!!!
It has come to my attention that we have forced the resignation of a valuable member of our teaching staff over matters that are inconsequential to the job he does as a teacher. Mr. Cody has not been teaching with Lexington long but has made a lasting impact on our children. I know for my child and many other children their math grades have went up and not just their grade but their understanding of the subject. My own daughter’s test scores for math have skyrocketed just this year since she has been taught by Mr. Cody. Which is more than I can say for most teachers that are currently employed at Lex. He goes above and beyond, and out of his way to make that happen. The matter in which his resignation was requested in no way effects his teaching capability nor does it negatively effect the reputation of the school itself. The fact is that what Mr. Cody does in his time off is no one business except Mr. Cody’s, and had his medical card not expired recently, the grounds on which the resignation was requested would not be there. The misdemeanor charges that Mr Cody received does not affect his eligibility to teach in this state and he will be able to get a job at another school. I feel it would be wildly unwise to allow such an asset to the school and our children be handed off to another school simply to save face that you aren’t even saving. We the parents of this community while recognizing that Mr Cody made a bad decision in the fact that he decided to drive under the influence, also are aware that Mr Cody is a grown man, who while he is off the clock makes his own choices. But we also do not look down on or see anything wrong with the fact that he failed to renew his medical card on time, nor that he has it in the first place. This is not grounds in our opinion to ask for a resignation. Especially with the consideration of his outstanding work at our school. We feel strongly that you Mr Hall and the Lexington School Board should reconsider their request for his resignation and ask him to come back to work as the Math teacher in Lexington High School. Our kids deserve the best education available and we believe Mr. Cody gives that more so than any Math teacher Lexington has had thus far. And that is what matters. These kids education is more important than your IDEA of what LOOKS good. Most of us either have medical cards ourselves or have family members or friends that have them and we understand it. This is 2024, marijuana use is not perceived the way it used to be, especially among the age group of the parents of your current students. We would like to remind you that we are the generation that voted to legalize medical use in this state, this highly republican state that republicans voted for. And we feel strongly that him having the card, and sometimes not having it up to date, does not effect his capability of exceptionally teaching our students nor does it tarnish the schools reputation. We ask for your recinsideration and rehire. Thank you.
Why is this important?
Our kids deserve the best education available to them and Mr. Cody meets that standard. A mistake made on the weekend outside of school should not dictate whether or not he is capable or suitable for his job. Mr. Cody is one of our best teachers in the school system. My daughter has always struggled in Math she just doesn’t get it, since she has moved up into high school and has had Mr. Cody not only have her grades skyrocketed for Math but her state test scores in Math have skyrocketed. Her UNDERSTANDING of the subject has went through the roof. She has went from testing below the state average to ABOVE it. And it is solely because of the methods and extra care that Mr. Cody takes with his students and her story is not the only one like it. Mr. Cody spends his planning periods and lunch hours whenever necessary helping students one on one. If they are behind he helps them catch up, if they just aren’t getting it he helps them. And he takes the time for those students out of his personal time. Instead of using his planning period he helps them and then goes home and does his planning. Instead of getting his personal time for lunch he helps them. He goes above and beyond his job. And it shows in our kids test scores. Not only does he do those things but he also makes your children comfortable in asking for the help. Which is something that can’t be said for most teachers. A lot of time the attitude our children have is that it’s not worth asking, because they won’t listen, or they’ll say no. Our kids not only get the help they need but feel safe and optimistic in asking for it. These kids love him not because he’s cool or he lets them mess around but because he legitimately helps them. He has their respect. We are the generation that voted for medical marijuanas legal status. So not only should we help keep a teacher that we KNOW is massively beneficial to our children’s education but we should fight for our medical legalization that we worked for. We should fight against the school for trying to make something that we pushed and voted for still a negatively looked upon thing, like it’s still makes you a pariah to have a medical card even one that recently expired. We need them to know that this is not a firable offense. Then, there are other teachers in the school who have not gotten marijuana possession charges on there own time that deserve to be forcefully resigned. That not everything should be about the way something looks. It should be about what’s best for our kids. What THEY deserve. If they wanna get rid of teachers, great! But let’s get rid of the ones that don’t care. That say things like… “well all my kids in this class are making C’s so it’s fine”. No it’s not fine, your not doing your job!!! That no matter how much effort your child puts into trying to catch up or understand something they get met with a do it yourself attitude. Who no matter how little they do they put their own failures onto your kids. The Lexington school system has done a lot of shady stuff to help themselves “save face” and we as parents HAVE to fight for the best interest of our kids. The school system needs to remember that they are at the bottom line emoloyed by the parents of this state. They are employed by our tax dollars and when they make poor decisions they have someone to answer to. That’s you. This community needs to come together on soooo many issues. And I feel strongly for our kids it needs to start here. Help us keep a valuable teacher, if we don’t, we senselessly lose him to another school. For what? Ask yourself that.