CANTON -- A petition requesting a public apology from Canton Central School Board President Barbara Beekman has 100 signatures.

The petition was launched following a Watertown Daily Times article that quoted Beekman as saying “We have two college towns and a preponderance of people who value education.” She added, “They are different than a farming town, for better or worse,”  the paper reported.

The comment was apparently made in regard to a possible merger between Hermon-DeKalb Central School and Canton Central School.

The petition was posted on change.org by Janice Brabaw and has been signed by many St. Lawrence County residents.

An excerpt from the petition follows:

“Ms. Beekman, in light of discussion regarding a possible merger with either Potsdam or HDCS had this to say about HDCS: "We have two college towns and a preponderance of people who value education,” Mrs. Beekman said. “They are different than a farming town, for better or worse.”

The students of HDCS are NOT inferior to those in "college towns" and the community, teachers, and students are NO LESS committed to quality education. Moreover, the rural students of her own school district or those who are not somehow affiliated with the universities also should not be treated like second class citizens.

Students in all schools in all communities whether rural or village (Ms. Beekman seems to think that somehow there are no farmers in her school and that Canton, NY is a thriving metropolis apparently) deserve to be treated the same, receive the same access to quality education and education resources, and to not be treated as inferior by people in positions of authority (i.e. Presidents of School Boards.)

We also demand that the school board make public the debate regarding a potential merger, as per NYS law. Canton High School couldn't even be bothered to respond to Ms. Adam's letter requesting a discussion of sharing assets and now they refuse to have an open door BOE meeting regarding the issue and their merger with Potsdam.

Furthermore we ask this to the people of Canton -- is this really the sort of woman you want representing you and YOUR children?”

The full petition can be found online at http://www.change.org/petitions/hugh-c-williams-high-school-publicly-apologize-to-the-past-and-present-residents-students-and-faculty-and-staff-of-hermon-dekalb?share_id=KZVvtapVLX&utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&v=control&x=%7Eopen_graph_autopublish_experiment