Dozens of students and their parents turned out to support a Pella High School vocal music teacher who submitted her resignation.

Michelle Chaplin is the director of vocal music at Pella High School and of the show choirs Acapella and Bravo, and her resignation was submitted and accepted at this week’s school board meeting.

Several of the parents and students spoke–at times emotionally, in support of Chaplin, who announced her departure at the end of the school year to the groups in attendance prior to the meeting. They also shared several concerns relating to the future of the program, which they said was mostly self-funded and had grown significantly during Chaplin’s nearly two decades in Pella.

Superintendent Greg Ebeling addressed those in attendance after the forum closed, saying administration has every intention of continuing the show choir program in the future, and that a wide search is in process to find a full-time replacement for next academic year. According to Ebeling’s comments at the meeting, Chaplin was teaching under a “Plan of Assistance,” which involved additional supervision from district administration in an attempt to reconcile differences or conflicts between teachers or staff. Ebeling said when given the choice to continue the program, Chaplin elected to resign.

Following the public forum, the board approved increasing the instructional support levy from eight to ten percent. The measure was a way to adjust the general fund spending authority to avoid potential cuts in the upcoming fiscal years. According to Superintendent Greg Ebeling, the move would be revenue neutral, as they are going adjust the rest of the school’s property tax to ensure it doesn’t increase. Stay tuned to 92.1 KRLS to hear more from this week’s Pella School Board meeting.

Additional details from the meeting will be reported later this week.