I've long maintained that it takes a special kind of person to sit on a school board. A cRaZy person. You serve with no pay and no matter what you do, you're wrong. You'll either alienate teachers or parents. Moreover, school administrators speak a strange dialect of bureaucratese, making it a real effort to understand what they say. This makes writing about what has happened very dangerous. It is simply too easy to get things wrong. What's worse for me is that I've never attended a public school. I was educated by naughty nuns and bitchin' brothers. So I tend to avoid them. What I do know is that now, there's even more reason to run as fast as you can from school boards. They're the front line of our culture wars. They are inundated with arguments about after school Satan clubs, after school bible studies, critical race theory, mask mandates, transgender issues, book banning and just about every topic consuming the left and right. But that's me. Here are the culture warriors (whether they like it or not) running for school boards,
Bangor Area School District (5 seats) - Christopher Marozzi, Annamarie T Robertone, Courtney Gilmore, Toni E Lynch, Zachary Miller, Michael Goffredo, Colleen Schiavone and Tanya Peifly are running on both sides of the aisle. Melissa Smith filed only as a Republican. Nine people are running for just five seats.
Bethlehem Area School District At-Large (3 seats): Cindy A O'Brien cross-filed. M Rayah Levy, Karen Beck Pooley and Emily Root Schenkel have filed as Democrats only.
Bethlehem Area School District Region II (1 seat): Michael Recchiuti has cross-filed.
Bethlehem Area School District Region III (1 seat): Cindy A O'Brien and Kim Shively have cross-filed. Anthony M Gentile is running as a Republican only.
Easton Area School District Region I (2 seats): Jodi Hess and Bill Whitman have cross-filed.
Easton Area School District Region II (1 seats): Ghennifer Zando-Dennis has filed under the Democratic banner only.
Easton Area School District Region III (1 seats): Edward Keegan and Michael Simonetta have cross-filed. (Keegan is the husband NorCo Council candidate Kelly Keegan).
Nazareth Area School District Region I (2 seats): Sariann L Knerr and Jeff C Greener have cross-filed. Erin L Ferguson, Elmo Frey Jr (a retired magisterial district judge who now hold court at Nazareth Diner) and Melinda G Gladstone have filed as Republicans only. (Squire Frey was a great judge and I wish I could vote for him, but his region is Bushkill Tp.)
Nazareth Area School District Region II (1 seats): Christopher G Miller and Jason M Swails have cross-filed.
Nazareth Area School District Region III (1 seats): Gregory C Leh has cross-filed. Thomas McElroy is running as a Republican only.
Northampton Area School District Region I (2 seats): Robert Mentzell, John Becker, Marc Kercsmar and Kristen Lorah-Soldridge have cross-filed.
Northampton Area School District Region II (1 seat): Michael Baird has cross-filed. William G Jones, Jr. is running as a Republican only.
Northampton Area School District Region III (2 seats): Joshua Harris, David Gogel, Brian McCulloch and Anthony Maniscalco have cross-filed.
Pen Argyl Area School District Region I (1 seat): Lisa Hackman has cross-filed. Tighe J Scott is running as a Republican only.
Pen Argyl Area School District Region I (1 seat): Lisa Hackman and Thomas Knorr have cross-filed. James A Frey is running as a Republican only.
Pen Argyl Area School District Region II (2 seats): Jeff Moyer and Robert C Rutt have cross-filed. Joseph Colosi and Nancy O'Keefe are running as Democrats only. Debra Mouisset is running as a Republican only.
Pen Argyl Area School District Region III (2 seats): John Dally, Jr. and Jason Keenhold have cross-filed.
Saucon Valley School District At-Large (5 seats): Vivian A Demko, Bill Broun, Laurel Erickson-Parsons, Susan Baxter, Shawn Welch, Michael Karabin, Bryan Eichfeld, Donald L Carpenter III and Jay Santos have cross-filed. J Barrett Geyer is running as a Republican only.
Wilson Area School District Region I (2 seats): Janis E Krieger and Linda Ann Baskwell have cross-filed.
Wilson Area School District Region II (1 seats): Jeffrey L Breidinger and Holly Waugh have cross-filed. Annelle DiSanto is running as a Republican only.
Wilson Area School District Region III (2 seats): Johnathan Jones is running as a Democrat only. Judith A Herbstreith has cross-filed.
17 comments:
Brother Steve needs a seat at the table
"What I do know is that now, there's even more reason to run as fast as you can from school boards."
Lol. Great line.
It has always amazed me that anyone can be on a school board as long as they are voted in. A high school drop out with no professional experience in anything could possibly have a vote in determining the future for school professionals and children. I know someone who was the president of a school board who was fired from the district as an incompetent bus driver and all she had was a high school diploma. She was dumb as rocks and it was painful and embarrassing to hear her speak. Yet there she was as the head of the district.
Now we have these whackodoos who think their kids are being taught CRT and whatever. Republicans are all about the 1st Amendment yet they want to ban books. It's a joke.
It's a bit strange, I agree, and on both sides. I personally think there are too many school districts and we could achieve some efficiency by combining them. I do think it is time to impose some standards on school directors as well.
The problem with the school board races is the cross filing. You really don't get a feel for what the person stands for other than boiler plate stuff in their mailers.
The second thing I notice is that there are lots of former teachers and school administrators sitting on school boards. It's seems like a conflict of interest to me that these people that are drawing an education pension from a District are in charge of a school district's purse strings. I guess they have a good understanding of how a district runs, but they would always be pro employee it seems to me. I am curious to see what others think about this.
Lastly, the Auditor General did some auditing on some school districts and found they like to play games with hiding the money so that they can raise taxes every year. It would be nice to have some more transparency given the amount of taxes we are paying.
Cross-filing should not be allowed for school board. Everyone likes to pretend boards are 'non-partisan', but they are. Furthermore, PA has no mechanism for being registered as both a Democrat and a Republican at the same time. The entire idea of cross-filing is silly and candidates should specify which their core ideals most closely align with.
Brother Steve made his intentions clear on Feb 17th. So. Much. Winning.
"To my fellow Patriots in Northampton boro... I am helping to locate and put up a school board candidate right here in the boro. You must reside in the boro. I will help you with your run from start to finish! Petition signing is going on right now and I will help you with this as well. Who's ready to be the change our children deserve??!"
Also, Brother Steve currently appears to be serving a 30 day FB suspension for being a conspiracy nut.
In my district, I assume all candidates are former teachers or Democrats or both because my taxes have been raised in 29 of the 30 years I lived in my current residence. I'm a parochial school product. My kids were, as well. I've always supported the least expensive option in every aspect of public schools, regardless of what it is. More money seems to consistently deliver worse results that are well below my already low expectations. PA is top 10 in per pupil spending and average teacher compensation, despite its residents ranking 26 in per capita income. For the budgetary emphasis we place on education, we earn an average SAT ranking of 29.
@12:04 I would never have agreed with you on this issue before the anti maskers, anti global health mitigation practices, and now anti inclusion, "don't say gay", right wing nuts came out from under the rocks. They should not be making decisions on any school board. Students have made so much progress with acceptance we should not regress. But then again, look at the progress women have made to only be taken back 30 years. Maybe you are right, tell us your political party so we know which way to vote.
Knucklehead petition signing ended March 7th🤣🤣
Word has it Matt Flowers guy Anthony "AJ" Maniscalco has NEVER attended a school board meeting and his petition has 10 Democrat signatures on the first republican page. Shame. 🤣 I've been to many meetings and I have seen McCulloch and harris always attend and speak!
Anonymous 11:29 -
Former teachers and administrators have no business being on the school board of a district they retired from. School boards should be comprised of parents or grandparents of children in the district. Yes, the former teachers and administrators know how things run but former teachers and admins sitting on a school board could have a score to settle moreso than an interest in oversight and contributing a necessary service to the community. The typical parent or grandparent may not know how everything runs but having a direct stake in the district would be an incentive to pay attention and learn.
You are an idiot and a bastard, plain and simple. Anybody who pays taxes has a right to sit on a school board, especially when it comes to all the bullshit you're talking about.
You're a joke.
We try to have a civil conversation on here but it’s impossible with people like you 2:15. You’re part of the problem, not the solution.
2:08, PA is top in the nation in teacher salaries when cost of living is factored. Number one! True story check it out.
https://www.pennlive.com/life/2022/09/pennsylvania-no1-best-state-for-teacher-salaries-study.html?outputType=amp
Actually you are the joke.
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