ADAIR COUNTY, MO. -- UPDATE: KTVO contacted Dustijn Hollon on Wednesday to see if he had any comments and replied via email that he had no comment.
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Some parents are singing the blues after the Novinger School District decided not to renew their band director's contract for next year.
Dustijn Hollon has been with the school since August of 2006. KTVO talked with Novinger Superintendent Bill Lake, who told us due to privacy laws he was unable to provide any information regarding action taken concerning Hollon's contract.
Elaine Moots, a concerned parent is speaking out about the situation and just wants to know why his contract wasn't renewed.
"He just does a fantastic job and the band children, the kids in general at Novinger are upset," Moots said. "Parents are upset, we just want to know why he's not going to continue there at Novinger school."
About a week ago the school board voted seven to zero not to renew his contract, but no official announcement was given to parents.
"I personally found out through him. He did tell his students this past Saturday on a trip and I think some of them already knew, but no there was no announcement that I know of," Moots said. "No letter was sent home to let us know, he's the one that ended up telling the students."
Although the school board can't release information on why they decided not to renew his contract, Moots along with some other parents think they know the reason why.
"My personal feeling is that maybe it's his tenure. I mean I don't know any incidents, problems or run-ins, but I know it's pretty hard to get rid of a teacher that is tenured. You know in this case I don't even know why they would think any different about him because he's doing a great job with the kids," Moots said.
After some of the students found out the news, they decided to take action into their own hands.
"The band kids at Novinger started a facebook page for him and they were wondering what they could do, so a friend of mine said we should start a petition and I thought we should do it online where everybody can really have a hand at signing it," Moots said.
The petition was made on Saturday evening and since then more than 100 people have signed it.
"The reason for the petition is so the school board can go ahead and offer him his contract again. I mean that's the main goal. You know we would all like to see that, parents and the children there at the school so hopefully they will listen to us," Moots said,
A school board meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 19th at 7pm. Everyone is encouraged to attend to voice their concerns. You can also click here to view Moot's petition.
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