Dr. Christopher Jahnke, former principal of Jenkintown Elementary School, confirmed with Glenside Local today that the retirement letter shared by Walking Jenkintown’s Facebook page in late August was, in fact, his writing.
The letter includes various criticisms regarding the alleged conduct of district superintendent Dr. Jill Takacs. Dr. Jahnke said he is unsure how Walkable Jenkintown got ahold of it and said he decided to confirm its authenticity after reading the school board’s response to our request.
He emphasized that the content was never meant to go beyond the board’s purview.
“That letter was for the board. There was nothing fabricated or embellished in that letter. What was referenced the board knew about already,” he said. “I tried to speak with other administrators, and they said they couldn’t discuss those issues. Those that needed to know about it, knew about it.”
He also said that his intent in writing a letter of that nature was purely informational.
“My intent was not to get anyone in trouble. It’s taken a lot of time and energy, but I believe it was the right thing to do. I hope some good comes from this. I hope action is taken, whatever needs to be done,” he said. “Since it was made public, people have reached out to thank me, some of whom I didn’t even know. So there seems to be some understanding outside of administration.”
The letter, transcribed with minor grammatical errors, can be found below:
A message allegedly written by board president Dr. Megan O’Brien to the school community which claims that Dr. Takacs is now on a temporary paid leave began to circulate on social media over the weekend. The message notes that Steven Van Mater, Director of Human Relations & Curriculum, will serve as substitute during the leave. The message does not clarify the reason(s) for the decision.
Glenside Local reached out to Dr. O’Brien yesterday to confirm the message’s authenticity and, if possible, elaborate on the decision. We have not heard back at the time of this writing and will update this article if we do.
Last week, Bob Kohlhepp, who is campaigning for Jenkintown School Board Director, began circulating a Change.org petition titled “Petition to the Jenkintown School District Board Members”. Today, he obtained and shared a teacher’s survey from January 2024. From the post:
This is the raw data released from the State of the Jenkintown School District Teacher Survey that was taken in January of 2024. The colored graphs are difficult to read and interpret, but at page 12 the teachers comments start.
Like the previous email I released, none of you were ever intended to see this information. Hence why it’s been sitting aside for over a year and half. As more and more information begins to come out, the more disgusting the situation is becoming.
The current school board does not listen to the community, previous administrators, parents and now the actual teachers themselves. The people tasked with teaching our children on a daily basis. The only reason why most of us live here.
Everyone needs to read this, share this and come to the school board meeting this evening at 7pm. If this doesn’t piss you off I don’t know what will. Open your eyes people of Jenkintown. What are paying taxes for?
“The results were shared with Dr. Takacs. It had some of the same things that I referenced in my letter,” Dr. Jahnke said. “The voters will make some statements come November, so we’ll see what happens there.”
More to come.
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