DV Journal

As a father, a law enforcement officer, and a candidate for the Central Bucks School Board, I read the recent investigative report from Disability Rights Pennsylvania (DRP) not just as a professional, but as a parent and community member.

What’s in that report is unacceptable. It describes the mistreatment of nonverbal special education students at Jamison Elementary and a pattern of leadership failure that stretches from individual teachers to the highest levels of district administration.

But here’s what troubles me just as much as the abuse itself: no one in leadership has been held accountable. The DRP report explicitly says the school board must act. It calls for discipline of Superintendent Dr. Yanni, who it says lied to both police and a board member. It outlines a culture of fear and retaliation inside the district. And it reveals how the Central Bucks School Board has failed to protect children, failed to support whistleblowers, and failed to lead.

Instead of consequences, we saw damage control:

• Teachers accused of abuse were allowed to take paid medical leave.
• The administration was accused of misleading the board — and suffered no consequences.
• The teachers union, according to DRP, attempted to block the investigation entirely.
• Superintendent Dr. Yanni and his cabinet kept parents in the dark while quietly working behind the scenes to manage the optics.
• After the DRP report was released, and only after public embarrassment, was Yanni then placed on paid administrative leave and not terminated.

That’s why agencies like Disability Rights Pennsylvania exist — to investigate when local systems fail. And their findings don’t just raise red flags, they provide a roadmap for action. Now, it’s up to the school board to follow through. The current board has proven it won’t.

We need change at the top.

As a school board candidate, my job isn’t just to raise questions. It’s to bring accountability. That starts by restoring trust — especially for parents. When something happens in school, whether it’s a safety concern or a serious complaint, parents must be notified immediately. No family should learn about abuse from a third-party report or a newspaper article. Communication and transparency must be our foundation going forward.

Just as importantly, every school board member, and every district employee, is a mandated reporter. We are legally and ethically required to report suspected abuse. Ignoring those responsibilities, or excusing those who do, cannot be tolerated.

So how do we regain the trust of families — at Jamison Elementary and across Central Bucks? We start by acknowledging the truth, not minimizing it. We commit to transparency, even when it’s uncomfortable. And we take visible, meaningful action: removing those who enabled harm, elevating those who speak out, and ensuring that safety, respect, and dignity are non-negotiable for every child in every classroom. Trust isn’t given; it’s earned, and right now, we have work to do.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about doing what’s right: for students, parents, teachers, and taxpayers. If elected, I will bring my law enforcement experience, my commitment to transparency, and my drive for accountability to the board. I will push for an independent review of leadership decisions, and I will not support shielding anyone from consequences, no matter their title.

This election, I’m asking for your vote. We can’t move forward by protecting a broken status quo. We need leadership that will stand up, speak out, and never forget that our job is to serve the students — all of them — first.

In response to Delaware Valley Journal’s reporting on school officials using messaging apps that erase messages to communicate with each other, the state Senate has called a hearing to review the situation.

The concern is that these officials are using the app to conduct official business and avoid Right-To-Know requirements, thereby keeping their communications secret from the public.

The Senate’s Intergovernmental Operations Committee sent out notices to potential witnesses of a tentative date of March 24 for the hearing.

“We need to understand whether or not the use of these apps violates current law. The hearing will explore how the apps are being used and hopefully generate some conversations about the issue among my colleagues,” said state Sen. Jarrett Coleman (R-Bucks/Lehigh), who chairs that committee.

DVJournal reported in December that the Pennsbury School District was using Google Chat, automatically set to delete messages after 24 hours. A follow-up report revealed Central Bucks School District Democratic board members were using Signal, which can be set to delete messages in 24 hours, to communicate with each other.

Why is this an issue?

Parents and community members have a right to learn about what officials are doing behind closed doors. If their communications disappear before Right-to-Know requests can be sent, then those requests become moot, and officials can carry out public business in secret.

The messaging apps may also violate the Sunshine Act, allowing a quorum of officials to discuss official business behind the public’s back.  Parents and community members would have to take their word that they were following the law.

Melissa Melewsky, the media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, is concerned. She worries about school board members using Google Chat, Signal, or similar messaging systems.

“Using an ephemeral messaging app raises not only Right-to-Know Law issues but Sunshine Act compliance issues as well,” Melewsky told DVJournal. “The Sunshine Act requires that quorum deliberations of agency business take place only at a public meeting. The messaging app would allow those discussions to take place outside of public meetings, in violation of the law, without evidence, making public accountability impossible. At a minimum, this conduct harms the public trust, and depending on how the app is used, it may also violate the law.  The school board should reconsider its conduct and put both the law and transparency at the forefront of their public service.”

The Central Bucks Signal use came to light through a deposition given by former school board President Karen Smith in a lawsuit brought by residents John Callaghan and Karen Vecchione. Smith revealed the Democratic members of the board used Signal to communicate with other Democrats on the board. However, she claimed she did not use Signal for “agency business” or when there was a quorum.

“We use our email in cases where we believe something should be part of the record,” Smith told the plaintiff’s lawyer, J. Chadwick Schnee, during a deposition.

In its haste to hire a new solicitor and undo some of the policies of the previous Republican-led board, the Democratic majority board that took control of the Central Bucks School District (CBSD) in 2023 allegedly violated the Sunshine Act.

That’s the contention of a lawsuit filed by residents John Callaghan and Karen Vecchione.

During a deposition conducted by the plaintiff’s lawyer, J. Chadwick Schnee, former Central Bucks school board president Karen Smith revealed the Democratic members of the board used Signal to communicate. The app generally deletes messages in about a day and has been used by in the past by public officials hoping to skirt public records laws.

When Schnee questioned Smith under oath, she insisted the board members did not use Signal for district business, according to a transcript of the deposition obtained by DVJournal.

After Smith said Signal deletes messages, Schnee asked if she knew the “retention requirements for school districts?”

“I’m aware of this policy,” said Smith, who also said she had been the right-to-know officer at Middle Bucks Institute of Technology, a technical school.

“Are you aware it’s also a law?” asked Schnee. She said she was.

Asked why she would “communicate via Signal as opposed to using a district-issued email address or device,” Smith said, “I started using Signal during the campaign because—on the advice from a friend. They recommended it because it’s safer than texting. It’s harder to hack Signal. And our campaign was very contentious, and I was concerned that my phone could potentially be hacked.

“So, that’s why I started using Signal. It’s also user-friendly. It allows you to create groups that work better than texting. Sometimes, when you text, if you have different types of phones, it doesn’t work as well. So that’s why I originally began using Signal, and I’ve continued for similar reasons.

“Obviously, we don’t use Signal in a quorum. That would be illegal. We never do that. And we don’t conduct agency business on Signal. We might share some information on Signal. We might have back and forth about scheduling things. We might have casual conversations like our reactions to something that’s happened, which is allowed.”

Smith said it was “a group decision to use Signal.”

Asked if that decision was made at a public meeting, she said it was not.

“Those are not conversations that are subject to the right-to-know [law]. They’re not agency business,” Smith said.

After Smith said the Signal messages disappear in “about a day,” Schnee asked, “So, aren’t you evading transparency?”

“Again, they’re not agency business. We’re careful about what we use the tool for. We use our email in cases where we believe something should be part of the record,” Smith replied.

In a Perry Mason moment, Schnee showed Smith a Signal message from board Member Heather Reynolds saying, “I think we need to be super freaking careful here with respect to replacing [former solicitor] Jeff Garton.”  The Signal message is from the February following Garton’s replacement.

Reynolds replied, “We really don’t have a defense as to why we moved so quickly to appoint David Conn as our solicitor.”

Republican board Member Jim Pepper and former GOP board members Debra Cannon and Lisa  Lisa Sciscio, who resigned in February 2024, were not privy to the Signal messages.

The district spokesperson, Michael Petitti, did not respond to a request to comment.

However, Central Bucks School Board members are not the only ones using a secretive messaging app.

DVJournal previously learned that Pennsbury officials are using Google Chat, a service that also deletes messages in 24 hours, to discuss school district business.

Melissa Melewsky, the lawyer for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said laws should be changed to address this issue.

“Training [for board members] on the importance of government transparency would also be helpful, but a change in the law would be best,” Melewsky said.

State Sen. Jarrett Coleman R-Lehigh/Bucks) is looking into this and plans to hold a hearing soon to find out why officials are using apps that auto-delete messages in apparent contradiction to the right-to-know law.

“It may already be a violation of state law,” he said. “We know they’re using it.” There have been other instances from Pittsburgh brought to his attention, he said. But if the current law does not cover the practice, Coleman plans to introduce a bill to ban it.

The right-to-know law is “a really important tool for the taxpayers to learn what’s going on in the government and these huge school districts,” said Coleman. Central Bucks is the third largest in the state.

*This article has been updated to remove a profanity originally attributed to board member Rick Haring. It was messaged by Heather Reynolds.

Central Bucks School District has seen a lot of turnover within its school board over the past four years.  The district has had five school board directors resign, and the school board president voted out of the position for failure to run the board properly.  Since 2021, the district has also had five different superintendents running things.

Taxpayers and residents are tired of the partisan games school board representatives play.  They are supposed to represent the community, not their political party.  The Democratic-run board had a chance to model bipartisanship with the latest open seat to show the community they are not just playing politics with our children, but in true Democratic style, they appointed a Democrat.  I am not surprised, but people who have just recently started to follow school board “politics” are as profoundly disappointed as they should be.

Recently, there was an open board seat in Region 5.  Three people applied.  Two Republicans and one Democrat.  Both Republican candidates have lived in our district for many years and have given back to the community.  The Democratic candidate moved to CBSD from Brooklyn three years ago.  His primary qualification is having a “D” next to his name.

Taxpayers and stakeholders would think sitting school board representatives would do their due diligence and research the candidates.  They clearly did not or didn’t care about what they found.  After a quick Google search of the Democratic candidate’s name, his X (Twitter) account appeared.  There are numerous tweets where he calls Republicans derogatory names, and he is very critical of their beliefs.

Currently, in the neighboring Souderton School District, Democrats are calling for the removal of a school board member because of a social media post.  This did not deter our highly partisan board from even considering that picking a man with a checkered social media past may be a bad idea.

The six Democrats (Rick Harring was absent) picked a Democrat who has only lived in our district for three years and clearly does not care for Republicans over well-qualified Republican candidates who have connections to our community.

It is a sad day for everyone, most of all our children.   I am sure parents will be watching how this man treats parents with a different political affiliation, considering he has made his opinions very clear on social media.

Another grave concern our local media has neglected to write about is the board solicitor David Conn, who works for Sweet Stevens Katz and Williams.  His legal work has recently caused a judge to issue monetary legal sanctions against the district.

Will taxpayers be held liable for paying for his?  Recently, the board asked for an RFP (request for proposals) to obtain a new law firm.  Will the Democratic board pick a new firm or continue to employ this lawyer?   Currently, we have two experienced lawyers on our board.  Board Member Susan Gibson should know better than to use a lawyer who has cost the district money and has given incorrect legal advice in the past.

Hopefully, the board can see past their politics, do the right thing for the parents and taxpayers, and appoint a new solicitor.

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Two Republican members of the Central Bucks School Board resigned abruptly last week, citing their treatment by the new Democratic majority, leaving only one Republican remaining on the board.

Central Bucks, the third largest school district in the state, flipped from Republican to Democratic last November, after a campaign by various left-of-center groups opposing policy changes made by the GOP majority. Among them, keeping political signs out of classrooms and sexually-explicit books like “Gender Queer” out of school libraries.

The two Republicans, Debra Cannon and Lisa Sciscio, say Democratic Board President Karen Smith excluded them from a Jan. 30 retreat and board communications. They also believe actions taken by the new board solicitor, David Conn, expose them to personal legal liability. They made these claims in scathing resignation letters.

Conn’s appointment to the solicitor’s post appears to be at the center of the conflict.

Conn is unapologetic about his partisan politics. His social media feed identifies him as a “progressive solicitor,” and has featured his advocacy for Democratic and leftwing politics.

Cannon wrote that the three minority school board members received an email on November 29, 2023, announcing that the majority would appoint Conn as the new solicitor before the Democratic majority was sworn in. It was the same day that Conn filed with the court that he would be representing Karen Smith, Heather Reynolds, and Dana Foley in a vote recount case, which Cannon and Sciscio allege created a conflict of interest.

Smith, Reynolds, and Foley did not abstain in the vote to appoint Conn,  nor did Conn disclose that he represented them.

Also on December 28 of last year, Conn entered his appearance for the district in a legal case where Conn’s wife is a witness in that case, another alleged conflict of interest, according to Cannon’s letter.

“I expressed my concerns about the items which the newly-installed board majority added to the agenda without public notice,” Sciscio wrote about the Dec. 4 board meeting. “These agenda items did not fall within any of the exceptions to the Sunshine Act. The appointment of Mr. Conn as solicitor to the district (without a contract in sight) was one such item.”

Smith told Cannon that she communicates with the board majority by text messages, Signal app, and phone calls, a practice that not only excludes the minority Republicans but is not transparent and, in the case of phone calls, leaves no written record.

Cannon also objected to alleged violations of the Sunshine Act that could leave the district and board open to litigation, such as changing items on agendas without proper notice.

On Jan. 30, the Democratic majority board members held a retreat without the Republican minority. That day, Cannon emailed Smith expressing concerns about a retreat without the board minority present and confirming Conn would be there. She asked whether this was an unannounced executive session.

On Feb. 6, Sciscio, Cannon and the third Republican board member, James Pepper, a lawyer, sent Conn, acting Superintendent James Scanlon and the board majority an email outlining their concerns “that Conn is placing the district, its taxpayers, and the board (as a whole and personally) in legal jeopardy.”

Conn allegedly referenced an alleged Title IX violation “in an attempted blackmail communication,” said Cannon. But Scanlon later emailed Sciscio and Cannon to say there was no Title IX complaint.

On Feb. 13, the board and Scanlon censored  Cannon and Sciscio, abruptly ending the meeting before they could finish speaking.

Scisicio said the board majority’s actions “were likely to jeopardize our qualified immunity and create a personal liability against each board director.”

“In fact, not only has this entire board been notified of imminent personal litigation related to this matter on at least three occasions that I’m aware of, stated plainly, the district, through Mr. Conn, has threatened to take personal legal action related to this matter on at least three occasions…against its own sitting school board directors, that is, at least the directors in the minority,” she said.

Sciscio added, “I have no choice but to protect myself and my family from people who operate with such impunity and seemingly act without care for their oaths of office.”

Smith responded with a statement from the board majority saying the board had not violated the Sunshine Act and there was “no evidence of a quid pro quo with Mr. Conn. A lawyer can previously have performed pro bono work for an individual before they become a client. Additionally, the district is the client here, not any individual board member.”

“These allegations are false,” Smith said. “During their tenure in the board majority, Mrs. Sciscio and Mrs. Cannon routinely withheld information from the board minority. They ignored legal warnings on their intended votes from the ACLU, Education Law Center, NAACP, American Library Association and other organizations. Their actions resulted in a federal investigation by the Office of Civil Rights and multiple lawsuits. Their actions caused these lawsuits they are now accusing us of mishandling.”

However, an investigation by the Duane Morris law firm released last year found that Smith had secretly written an email to the Department of Education complaining about the district and asking for help with policies that she disagreed with prior to the DOE opening an investigation.

Conn did not respond to a request for comment.

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When the Democratic majority was elected to the Central Bucks School Board last year, it was with the assurance that they would bring more cooperation and less division to the board.

But that hope was shattered Tuesday night when two of three Republicans on the board—Lisa Sciscio and Debra Cannon–resigned.

The move came after the majority ended the meeting rather than allow Sciscio to speak.

“I was trying to approach the situation in a more charitable manner toward my colleagues,” said Sciscio. “So, there is one particular issue I have grave concerns about. And I asked for more information about this issue because I’m concerned not just myself but every member of  this board with not being given information.”

She pointed to a request she’d made to the new solicitor, David Conn.

“What I have learned since then is pretty mind-blowing,” Sciscio said. “As we heard tonight, also in public comment, one of the problems that reflects Mr. Conn as the solicitor of this district. On Jan. 28, I requested information on a legal matter, the separation agreement of (former superintendent) Dr. Lucabaugh. I abstained from last month’s vote, allowing Mr. Conn to take any legal action necessary regarding Dr. Lucabaugh, and boy, I’m glad I did. For merely asking for information and documentation on the matter…For my request, I was accused by Mr. Conn of colluding with the attorney representing Dr. Lucabaugh.”

Lucabaugh resigned after the November election brought a Democrat majority to the Central Bucks School Board. The previous, Republican-controlled board had faced a backlash over policies, including allowing parents to question whether certain books were age-appropriate. The board also instructed teachers and staff not to use alternative names and gender identities for students who requested it unless they had parental permission. Other issues included not allowing political displays, whether Trump signs or LGBTQ flags, in common areas of the schools.

“That certainly didn’t dissuade me from seeking this information,” said Sciscio. “Because I’m already used to our solicitor making egregiously false accusations against me and some other members of the board, especially in the press.

“Perhaps to elaborate on what this has been like is to simply share my emails,” she said. She started to read an email to Conn asking him to prepare a confidential memorandum about Lucabaugh’s resignation for board members.

“Instead, you use Karen (Smith) as your mouthpiece to claim that you require authorization from the board,” she said, quoting her email to Conn. “As a school board solicitor, you know that’s a flat-out lie.” She demanded all documentation in writing because of the “disparaging and inappropriate comments you’ve made about certain board members, including me, to the press.”

She added that perhaps Conn had not seen the email from Lucabaugh outlining alleged harassment from Smith.

Smith broke in to say Sciscio’s remarks were not appropriate.

“It’s come to my attention that on Nov. 29, you entered your appearance in a Bucks County election legal matter on behalf of Karen Smith, Heather Reynolds, and Dana Foley personally. Quite the coincidence that Karen notified me, Jim (Pepper) and Debra (Cannon) via email before anyone was sworn in that the ‘transitional board’ decided to hire you as a solicitor…Don’t you think it would have been appropriate to put the board and the public on notice of this conflict of interest? Don’t you think this could be construed as a quid pro quo? Don’t you think it would be prudent to advise your firm of their potential liability?”

She said the board majority was settling “personal political scores” before they voted to end the meeting.

Smith, the board president, Conn, and acting Superintendent James Scanlon did not respond to requests for comments. Sciscio and Cannon also did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday.

“This is just so heartbreaking,” said Michaela Schultz, responding on social media.

Also on social media, Dave Vessichelli said, “Democrats fixed the map so they will have control of the CB school board forever. Sad, but it will only get worse. If I have young kids, I would definitely get them out of the district.”

And Mike Jeffreys said, “Not that it matters what I think, but I’m 100 percent convinced the only way to see real change and accountability is through school choice.”

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A federal judge ruled in favor of Central Bucks School District Board member Jim Pepper, finding he had a First Amendment right to talk about a professional misconduct complaint that he filed against an educator without fear of prosecution by the Bucks County District Attorney.

In the case, John Doe v. DA Jennifer Schorn, Judge Karen Spencer Marston ruled a state law that prohibits people from disclosing that they filed a professional misconduct complaint with the state Department of Education is unconstitutional in Pepper’s case.

Pepper, a lawyer, had filed a complaint against a Central Bucks employee whom the Department of Education dismissed about a month later without an investigation. He wanted to talk about how the state DOE dismissed the case without finding out the facts and to criticize the DOE for its response.

However, he could have been charged with a misdemeanor under the law, and the Bucks County District Attorney, then Matt Weintraub, refused to “disavow” prosecution, according to the ruling.

Attorney Aaron Martin, who represents Pepper, said, “The effect of the injunction is to bar the Bucks County district attorney from prosecuting my client for disclosing his complaint to the Pennsylvania Department of Education. It also bars prosecution for my client’s disclosure of the Department’s response. The department stated it would not act on his complaint.

“The court declared the law unconstitutional as applied to my client,” said Martin. “It did not declare the law unconstitutional in all respects, nor did it declare the law unconstitutional as applied to other people.”

Despite the judge’s affirmation of his First Amendment rights, Pepper declined to discuss the case or the ruling.

Pepper faced “a credible threat of prosecution,” the judge held in her Jan. 10 opinion. However, her injunction protects Pepper from prosecution should he decide to discuss his complaint.

Schorn, who succeeded Weintraub later and successfully ran for a seat on the Superior Court bench, declined to comment.

Martin added, “The injunction is not binding against other prosecutors.  However, the court’s well-reasoned opinion will likely cause other prosecutors not to file charges against other citizens for disclosing similar information.”

Central Bucks, the third-largest school district in the state, has been riven by culture wars in recent years. It has been the subject of an ACLU complaint and a federal Department of Education investigation.  Although a prestigious law firm investigated and found the district had not discriminated against LGPTQ students, that issue and a policy to require age-appropriate books in the school libraries drove controversy and propelled a new Democratic majority to take over in the 2023 elections.

Parent Jamie Walker noted the teacher’s union, along with Philadelphia and state Democrats, flooded the race with money to propel the win. Rep. Malcom Kenyatta (D-Philadelphia), who is now running for state auditor general, made commercials for the Democratic slate.

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At the January 11, 2024, Central Bucks board meeting, the Democrat majority representatives hired James Scanlan, Ed.D., as interim superintendent for $1,713.15 a day. That equates to almost $35,000.00 a month or a yearly salary of over $400,000 a year. Plus, he’s reimbursed for travel, tolls, parking, and any out-of-pocket expenses while doing his job. No financial cap was put on these expenses.

The Bucks County Intermediate Unit, led by Mark Hoffman, created this contract and charged our district $363.15 per day for Dr. Scanlon. These numbers are unprecedented. The local media spent months criticizing Dr. Abe Lucabaugh’s $315,000 a year salary as a permanent superintendent, which was significantly less money.

Assistant Superintendent Chuck Malone Ed.D. agreed to serve and was approved as Interim Superintendent at the November 2023 board meeting for an additional $6,500.00 a month until a new superintendent is found. This is the practice used for all previous interim superintendents.

Never has a board hired an out-of-district interim superintendent. I have not seen any criticism about this outrageous expenditure in the media. Unfortunately, this highlights the bias of local media. When the Republicans were in the majority, their criticism was nonstop. And these sky-high salaries show how misinformed the current board majority is.

The next poor hire was David Conn, who was board solicitor from Sweet Stevens Katz & Williams. Mr. Conn is married to a member of our community who is part of the ACLU investigation.

A few months ago, all judges in Bucks County voluntarily recused themselves from ruling on the district’s new voting maps because one judge’s wife works for our district. Clearly, with that mindset, hiring Mr. Conn is a conflict of interest.  The Democratic majority,  led by Karen Smith, didn’t think so. They have a specific agenda to follow.

Mr. Conn gave an incorrect, unsolicited legal opinion in July 2021 to keep children masked in school. This “legal advice” was proven incorrect by the Supreme Court when the justices found the mask mandate illegal. This poor advice shows his poor judgment.

On a personal note, Mr. Conn put in right to know requests about me and another mother in the district. The other mother and I are not politicians or looking to be employed by Central Bucks, so it was an extraordinary thing to do.

I emailed the board to let them know my concerns. Unfortunately, Democrats didn’t seem to care about my worries, which was expected. I hope he doesn’t request information about my children, who are all Central Bucks students. I do not trust him. I have no idea what he will do. It’s not a great feeling.

We moved here for the schools, like so many other people.

In the last election, Philadelphia Democrats flooded the Bucks County Democrats’ PACs with money to pay for commercials for school board candidates.

They endorsed and supported anyone for this election if they had a “D” next to their name. Republican school board candidates don’t have a shot with the current system.  It’s not a level playing field.  I just hope the district stays a top educational institution, but looking at who influences the Democrats, I don’t have much hope.

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On Dec. 13. the new Democrat-controlled Central Bucks School board had its first policy meeting, and if you are a resident here, you should be very concerned.

During the election, I helped run a PAC to elect candidates to protect girls sports and spaces because they are under attack by the Democratic Party.  In June 2023, state Sen. Steve Santarsiero  (head of the Bucks County Democratic Party) made a speech stating that he supports “The Fairness Act,” which sounds good from the title but in reality what it does is allow biological males to play in female sports and use their locker rooms.   This act is also supported by Governor Josh Shapiro.

During the Democratic run boards’ first policy meeting they decided to halt policy 321.  This policy keeps politics out of classrooms.  So now a teacher is free to hang up a Palestinian flag or a Trump flag.  This is terrifying given the amount of antisemitism that is in our area.  Universities all over the country are being reprimanded for antisemitism and our new board just invited it into classrooms.  As a Jewish person I find this appalling and it speaks to their lack of awareness of our current political climate regarding antisemitism.

Secondly. the new board wants biological boys to play in girl sports but they tabled that policy because too many residents were upset. They want to wait for further clarification from the PIAA.  The PIAA doesn’t set these types of rules.  They allow for each school district to set a policy.  This is exactly what they did with masks during COVID.  If any of the new school board representatives were paying attention they would understand how the PIAA operates.   This is exactly why our previous board created a policy to protect girls sports.

Girls all over Pennsylvania are in a lot of trouble if the new board allows biological males to play in female sports and use their locker rooms because we are basically the largest suburban district and other school districts will model us.  This isn’t going away either.  Parents with biological girls need to make sure their girls are protected and looking back to Board President Karen Smith’s previous votes I have no faith this board will help girls.  The Pennsylvania Democrats funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into the new candidates campaign and these elected candidates have an agenda to follow.

The board also halted policies 109.1 and 109.2 which ensure children only have access to age appropriate material.  So now it’s a free for all.  Any type of book will be allowed to enter the libraries in school.  Parents this is your chance to donate whatever you would like!

Lastly, the board will vote on allowing student representatives to have a say on the board.  So if you ever wanted your 7 year old to help create board policies for a school district with a $360 million budget this is your chance!  Stay tuned for details.   Central Bucks residents these representatives were highly endorsed by Sen. Steve Santarsiero.  Gov. Josh Shapiro attended their victory party.  They are a reflection of their beliefs.  Remember that going forward.

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Democrats won big across the Delaware Valley in last Tuesday’s election. It was clear that abortion rights and, to some degree, possible challenges to the 2024 presidential election carried the day. After the election, Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, reportedly said Dobbs and democracy won the 2023 election, and those issues will carry Democrats to victory in 2024.

Dobbs is a reference to the U.S. Supreme Court decision that overruled Roe v. Wade and sent abortion rights battles back to the states. Democracy is a reference to President Donald Trump and the challenges he raised about the 2020 election results.

But I don’t think that Dobbs or democracy gave us the Democrats’ victory in the Central Bucks School Board elections. I think the unrelenting and false attacks by The Philadelphia Inquirer and WHYY demonized people like school board President Dana Hunter and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Abraham M. Lucabaugh.

The theme of both news outlets was that Lucabaugh, Hunter, and other Republican board members were on wholesale book-banning campaigns and were callous or biased toward students who were gay or transgender.

In my view, this coverage was so intense because the district is one of the biggest, wealthiest, and most educated in the entire state. It also had a fairly conservative board elected after bitter battles about masking and school closures during the COVID crisis.

I think the election of that conservative school board was a message that citizens in Central Bucks thought the previous COVID policies were too restrictive. And the demotion of Dr. David Damsker, Bucks public health chief, at the behest of the Wolf administration and carried out by the Bucks County commissioners also created a backlash.

Damsker had gained a large following across the state as he advocated loosening masking restrictions and early return of students to school even if they had previously had a fever.

The next firestorm for that board involved whether parents should be notified if their child wanted to be identified by pronouns that didn’t match their sex at birth. The superintendent said there would be discussions around each individual case, but the indication was that parents would be told.

How is this hateful to kids? It is the essence of parental rights that you be told about your child when, for whatever reason, they ask that their pronoun be changed. Do the newly elected school board members think parents should not be notified because they might get angry and abuse their child? Do they really believe collaborating with the child and lying to parents is a good policy? Somehow, with their allies in the media, the new board members were able to make a civil rights matter for kids as young as 7 or 8.

The media already mentioned, along with the Bucks County Courier Times, also conjured up the notion that Hunter and the others were on massive book-banning crusades. I interviewed Hunter and others extensively, and it was clear they crafted policies that restricted only very sexually graphic materials.

These were the books that you’ve seen parents stopped from reading passages from at school board meetings because they were so graphic. Any legitimate school district should not be making books like “Lawn Boy” or “Gender Queer” available to students.

So, what happens next? I like the thoughts of defeated school candidate Dr. Stephen Mass, who was interviewed by the DVJournal.

He said, “The only winners in Tuesday’s elections are the private schools, who will see their enrollment skyrocket in the next few years when parents see what policies are coming into our district.” I think Mass has a good crystal ball.