TULLY CENTRAL SCHOOLS
20 State Street, Tully, New York 13159
Telephone: 315-696-6200 Fax: 315-883-1343
http://tullyschools.org
MICHAEL P. O’BRIEN ROBERT J. HUGHES EDWARD KUPIEC
Junior/Senior High School Principal Superintendent of Schools Elementary Principal
PAUL SCHIENER BRADLEY R. CORBIN CRISTY BOBBETT
Junior/Senior High School Assistant Principal School Business Administrator Director of Student Support Services
January 10, 2022
To The Tully School Community,
The purpose of this letter is to let the Tully School Community know that tonight the Tully Board
of Education will be holding an emergency meeting to discuss steps the District can take to address
the concerns brought up by a specific student in recent social media posts. My hope is that after
this Emergency BOE meeting we will be able to move forward more quickly and effectively with
our ongoing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative, which includes creating a climate
and culture across our District that is supportive of LGBTQIA+ students. Given that the topic of
this meeting relates to a specific student, the Board will start the meeting and then immediately
adjourn into Executive Session to protect this student’s privacy under Open Meetings Law. For
your convenience here is a link to the letter I sent out yesterday which summarizes this situation:
Knight Insight Senior Spotlight Letter
Please note a few important points regarding this matter:
Ultimately the decisions regarding what gets published in The Knight Insight are mine. In
this situation, Mr. O’Brien was simply doing what I asked him to do.
My original decision regarding this student’s Senior Spotlight was not the right decision,
and I regret making this decision. Since then, I have apologized to the Tully community
and reversed that decision, and we will be running the student’s original Senior Spotlight
feature story in the next issue of the Knight Insight.
In the near future I would like to meet with this student and his parents to discuss this
situation, and I would like to have the opportunity to apologize to this student in-person.
Regarding the district’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Initiative, here are some specific
steps we have taken this year:
During the January 24th BOE meeting, the Board will vote on establishing a paid advisory
position for our Genders and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) club. The GSA club has been
club at our JSHS for several years now, with a volunteer advisor. One of the main
purposes of this club is to support our LGBTQIA+ students. A paid advisory position will
ensure that this club remains an ongoing source of support for our LGBTQIA+ students.
During the January 24th BOE meeting, I the Board will vote on establishing a paid advisory
position for our Community Wide Dialogue (CWD) Club. The Community Wide
Dialogue is an exchange program that allows our students to engage in dialogue with
students from a school in the City of Syracuse. The purpose of this dialogue is to raise
awareness of structural racism in our society today, and to empower our students in an
effort to end structural racism. For several years we have participated in this exchange,
and we are now interested in starting a club to extend this experience. A paid advisory
position would ensure that this club remains an ongoing opportunity for our students.
Beginning on Thursday, January 13th, Board members and I will begin a five week book
study, sponsored by the Central New York School Boards Association. This book study is
centered on the book entitled Five Practices for Equity Focused Leadership. The purpose
of this book study is to help board members and superintendents develop a better
understanding of DEI so that we can work together more effectively to improve
opportunities for all of students.
Clearly as a school district we have to do a better job of supporting our LGBTQIA+ students. I
have room to grow in this area as well. I am committed to growing in this area and taking the
necessary steps to forge substantial, enduring changes. I am looking forward to having the
District’s and the community’s support in accomplishing this goal.
Sincerely,
Robert J. Hughes
Robert J. Hughes
Superintendent of Schools
