Blake More- please help save Mendocino Poetry in the Schools program- sign petition below
Dear fellow poets, teachers, students and friends,
Some of you may have heard the rumors that the Mendocino County Office of Education is “postponing” the Mendocino Poetry in the schools program, despite the fact that it has operated uninterrupted in Mendocino County since 1974. I have been part of this program since 2001, its director since 2002.
During that time, MPITS has produced 23 countywide anthologies, dozens of poetry slams, countywide readings, radio shows, and school & classroom publications. Our students have repeatedly been featured in statewide publications and journals. They have won national competitions and entered prestigious universities. Poetry, and those who inspire it in our youth, are very much part of this county’s culture.
However, it is now official. The rumor is no more. The MCOE email announcement forwarded below went out to administrators and principals yesterday — most likely prodded by my repeated requests for an explanation that I could share with those who benefit from the program.
I’ve been asking for reasons since the day was told of the possible “postponement” of the MPITS program — just weeks after our poet teachers did their “Safe Schools Training” and the 2025-26 district-wide MOUs went out. I and the other poet teachers had already begun our beginning of the year communications with our high school classrooms.
This is exceptionally ironic because I met with student services director Cymbre Thomas Swett in June 2025, and after this lovely, program-value acknowledging, mutually-respectful meeting, I was told our Mendocino County Poets in the Schools budget was going to be increased to include three new schools. I was ecstatic and recruited two new dynamic, capable young poets to expand our reach.
I know Ms Thomas Swett is just a messenger, and I do not blame her, but to my surprise, in early September, after I asked for the new budget a few times, she met with me on Zoom and said I should pause everything because the business office was having difficulty figuring out how to pay the poets this year (the money was, and still is, in the budget).
Impossible ask. Silence is not an option for poet teachers; teachers expect us to reach out, we expect them to expect us. They reach out to us too. We have a longstanding relationship. Communication is key to our success. So I continued as if was going to be business as usual, as she assured me they were trying to figure out a way. I remained optimistic that since our program is so valuable, and proven, they would find a way.
But as the months went on, I began to fear the outcome, especially since I was not permitted to speak to the business team on behalf of the program despite my repeated requests to do so. Unfortunately my fears were founded. Now I have been forced cancel my scheduled teaching, training and life’s work. I have to tell students I will not be in their classroom this year. So do poet teacher Thomas Roberdeau and Bill Churchill. And now I have to tell new poet teachers Amanda Mahaffey and Anika Snyder that they are not going to be teaching in Mendocino County classrooms this year unless they go out and raise their own funding—a task that is daunting for a seasoned poet teacher, let alone a brand new one. It goes without saying, but to be obvious: None of this is easy.
Ask teachers you know, students, parents, county officials to please offer their support and ask that MCOE pledges to find a way to continue this valuable, life-affirming program. Students need creative communication skills and emotional intelligence building now more than ever. I created a petition to make this very easy to do.
Perhaps your outpouring of support will not save us this year, but it might help us keep our allotment as a line item on next year’s budget. Postponing is a very tricky word, and we all know that when money is moved out of one service and allocated to something else, it rarely finds its way back to its original home despite all the best intentions.
Please share this announcement with anyone you know who might be connected to, benefited from and/or cares about poetry in Mendocino county classrooms.
Sign our petition here:
Save Mendocino County Poets in the Schools
And if you can, please send copies of comments or letters of support to the decision makers directly:
Mendocino County Office of Education
Atten Student Services: Dr. Nicole Glentzer, Dr. Nicole Odell, Brook Gamble, Dr. Rebecca Baily, Cymbre Thomas Swett,
Also please send digital copies of this your letters to:
MCOE Superintendent Nicole Glentzer: nglentzer@mcoe.us
MCOE Assistant Superintendent of Education Services Dr. Nicole Odell: nodell@mcoe.us
MCOE PR Director Brook Gamble: bgamble@mcoe.us
MCOE Director – Learning and Enrichment Dr. Rebecca Baily: rbailey@mcoe.us
MCOE Director – Learning and Enrichment Cymbre Thomas Swett: cthomasswett@mcoe.us
Ted Williams, 2nd District State Assembly: williamst@mendocinocounty.org
Mendocino County Board of Supervisors: bos@co.mendocino.ca.us
Here’s an easy way to copy past the emails above in a single email: nglentzer@mcoe.us, nodell@mcoe.us, bgamble@mcoe.us, rbailey@mcoe.us, cthomasswett@mcoe.us, williamst@mendocinocounty.org, bos@co.mendocino.ca.us
The next school board meeting is December 8, at 10am at MCOE’s River Campus, 2240 Old River Road in Ukiah. Bill Churchill and I plan on attending and would very much appreciate letters of support and an outpouring of dismay. Come along if you are willing and poetry in the schools is important to you.
Here is the webpage for the program:
https://www.mcoe.us/for-community-families/student-events/poets-in-the-schools
If you know of any funding angels, send those our way too! I would love to continue some of the high school programming.
I hope we as poets can join our voices together and make sure CPITS poetry remains strong, vibrant and in Mendocino County classrooms.
Thank you for your support!
Blake More
Editor’s note- Blake is a multi genre artist who is a bright light of the local arts scene
Blake More – ArtsMendocino – Serving Mendocino County CA
