DV Journal

Ten candidates are running for five seats on the Central Bucks School board, including two incumbents, Board President Dana Hunter and Karen Smith.

The candidates are running in slates of five, with the Republicans led by Hunter and the Democrats led by Smith.

The district is the fourth largest in Pennsylvania, with nearly 18,000 students and 3,000 employees. The current Republican majority board has been besieged by outside organizations, such as the ACLU, after it passed policies to allow parents to challenge inappropriate sexually explicit books in school libraries and to keep political message signs out of classrooms, from gay pride flags to Trump banners.

DVJournal asked all 10 candidates to answer five questions. Only two responded. Their responses are below.

The questions: 1) Would you use the Act 1 exceptions to raise taxes? Why or why not? 2) Many students have experienced learning loss. What are some solutions you would bring? 3) Mental health is another crisis. How would you address this in the CBSD? 4) There is a multi-million-dollar lawsuit pending over teachers’ pay. Should that be settled? 5) How do you see the role of the school board director regarding the teachers’ union?

Dr. Stephen Mass, a surgeon running against Smith in Region 1, submitted these answers:

1) With inflation and rising mortgage rates, the average taxpayer can ill afford a tax hike—especially seniors on fixed incomes. An Act I exception (raising the taxes for specific costs without voter approval) is an absolute last resort. As a board member, I would need to do the due diligence and have a transparent conversation should any potential need arise.

2)  It will take years to reverse the learning loss from the lockdowns. We start by focusing on a rigorous math, writing, and reading foundation at elementary levels and more individualization in the curriculum at all levels. Where we see large learning losses, we need to expand on in-house tutoring programs, including peer tutoring

De. Stephen Mass

3) We can be better about individualizing the curriculum so kids are happier with their academic path. We can promote after-school sports and clubs to give kids a sense of community. And we need evening programs involving parents regarding mental health-related topics such as sleep, exercise, nutrition, screen time, bullying, and more.

4) An attorney representing the Pennsylvania School Board Association presented on Sept. 12. He was clear that we should not settle due to the shocking $119 million and lack of merit. I agree and think the union should also answer. I refused an opportunity to meet with the lawyer for the lead plaintiff, the spouse of a candidate, a concerning conflict of interest.

5)  The union’s goal is to extract for its members, while the board’s mission is to sustain excellent schools while protecting the taxpayer. A board member should, therefore, not accept money or seek endorsements from the union. It’s concerning my opponent sought this endorsement.

Glen Schloeffel is a former school board member with a bachelor’s in marketing and retired from the U.S. Navy Reserves. He is running in Region 3 and gave these replies:

1) If the highly disputed Cartee-Haring lawsuits are settled, taxes will have to go up significantly, and an Act 1 exception will likely be the only way the school district, vis a vis our taxpayers, can pay for it, in addition to eliminating jobs, education, and sports programs. During my previous term on the school board, we never raised taxes, and it will be my mission to not raise taxes if elected in November.

Glen Schloeffel

2) I will task the administration to develop a plan within 45 days to address the learning loss due to COVID-19. We have some of the best educators and administrators in the state who have dedicated their careers to the education of our children. They are the teaching experts, and we should rely on them for the solutions.

3)  Central Bucks Pupil Services has worked hard to create and implement a comprehensive support system that has become a model for the state.   This model encompasses a wide range of services and resources, all aimed at nurturing and safeguarding the mental well-being of our children. We also have a team of counselors and support staff assigned to each middle and high school in the district. The CBSD also closely collaborates with NOVA (Network of Victim Assistance), and we are seeing terrific benefits and results from this collaborative relationship that is helping our kids. `I will always advocate for ways that we can draw on additional resources that address ongoing student mental health concerns.

4) My understanding is the school district has committed no wrongdoing in the pay dispute, and the board was advised to not settle under any circumstances by Michael Levin, Chief Defense Counsel for CBSD, who publicly stated at the September board meeting that “No unlawful discrimination has occurred” in our district. Mr. Levin has served as legal counsel to the Pennsylvania School Board Association (PSBA) and is considered an expert who has written state education and school board policy. If the school board majority changes (from Republican to Democratic) in November, the lawsuit will be settled, and the spouse of a school board candidate will benefit handsomely, while taxes for the rest of us will be raised over $3,500 on average to pay their $120 million settlement demand. Ed Mazurek, the attorney for Rick and Becky Cartee-Haring, contacted the Republican school board candidates and said that he has already briefed Democrat school board candidates Dana Foley, Heather Reynolds, Karen Smith, and Susan Gibson on the case and offered to do the same for the Republican candidates. This is a tremendous conflict of interest that would bias these candidates should they be elected to the board, especially since Rick Haring is their running mate. I, as well as the other Republican candidates, declined the offer to be briefed on the case because of the inappropriate conflict of interest and bias that meeting with the Harings’ attorney creates for potential school board members. It is extremely unethical that the Democrat school board candidates have already been briefed on the case by the Harings’ attorney since they have all said they believe the case should be settled and that they’ll vote to give the Harings a settlement. This should greatly concern every taxpayer and voter.

5) The school board and the teachers’ union should stand shoulder to shoulder to ensure our children get the best education possible to prepare them for life. Beyond that, the CBEA represents the teachers, and the school board represents the community and taxpayers. We must balance their concerns and priorities, especially in these very trying financial and economic times.

In addition to Mass, Hunter, and Schloeffel, the Republican candidates are Aarati Martino and Tony Arjona. The Democrats are Smith, Heather Reynolds, Dana Foley, Rick Haring, and Susan Gibson.

Elections can be confusing. Voters must wade through a welter of competing claims and narratives. So we should be grateful for any moment of clarity, when a candidate reveals what principals animate and guide them.

Candidate Karen Smith, running for her third term on the Central Bucks School Board, offered the voters her own moment of clarity recently. When asked by The League of Women Voters how she would ensure implementation of the Pennsylvania  Department of Education’s (DOE)  “Culturally-relevant” educator training, she admitted: “I would encourage and fund professional development through respected organizations such as Rethinking Schools…”

Any parent might reasonably ask themselves, just who exactly is this group that we are supposed to “encourage and fund” with tax dollars? Rethinking Schools is an advocacy organization and member of the  Teacher Activist Groups coalition. On their website, Rethinking Schools boasts of their commitment to “…strengthening public education through social justice teaching and education activism” and to “…promoting equity and racial justice.”

Just how their ideas for “social justice” play out in the real world can be seen by their recent response to terrorism in Israel. October 7, 2023 was the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust. Horrific reports document Hamas terrorists brutally beheading, burning, torturing, raping  and kidnapping innocent civilians. And for those who doubt the veracity of these videos, we would like to remind them that videos were shot and gleefully shared by Hamas terrorists themselves. Most serial killers try at least to cover up their crimes, but not Hamas.

Four days after the attack, Rethinking Schools published an article blaming the United States and Israel for the terrorism. They did not even mention the role of Hamas. Here is a quote they cite: “The bloodshed of today and the past 75 years traces back directly to U.S. complicity in the oppression and horror caused by Israel’s military occupation. The U.S. government consistently enables Israeli violence and bears blame for this moment. The unchecked military funding, diplomatic cover, and billions of dollars of private money flowing from the U.S. enables and empowers Israel’s apartheid regime.”

So what to make of the reaction at some of our nation’s most prestigious universities? A professor at Cornell University who called the Hamas attacks “exhilarating” and “energizing”? Or what to think when 34 student organizations at Harvard assert that they “…hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence”?  Should we be surprised, when groups like Rethinking Schools are whispering their notion of “social justice” into the ears of our school children?

Karen Smith’s promise to bring Rethinking Schools into our district provides us all with a moment of clarity. It strikes us as being a lazy, poorly examined attempt to bring a hateful ideology into our classroom. And as we have seen, ideology has a way of leaking out of the classroom into the real world, with real consequences. We wish Ms. Smith had done more research before she endorsed an organization that her constituients can not possibly agree with. We will fight to keep politics out of the classroom. Karen has demonstrated that she will not.

Central Bucks School Board member Jim Pepper gave a fiery speech at the Oct. 10 meeting.

At issue are equal pay cases brought by teachers Rebecca Cartee-Haring and Dawn Marinello. Marinello’s case is now a class action with some 360 female teachers on board. Cartee-Haring’s husband, Rick Haring, a Democrat, is running for a seat on the school board next month.

Pepper, a plaintiff’s lawyer, blasted teachers suing the district and its lawyer for pressing the district to settle the cases for $120 million, money he said the district does not have “sitting around.”

Pepper noted that CBSD’s attorney, Michael Levin, told the board that based on the facts, the district would prevail.

“First off and most importantly, the district’s lawyer has said unequivocally there has been no unlawful discrimination in our district,” said Pepper. “None.”

“People think that once a complaint is filed, that is the end of the story… That is not how our legal system works,” said Pepper. There is discovery (where each side turns over evidence) and then motion practice, he said, before a trial would begin.

“This is what I do for a living,” said Pepper. “Strange (for) a party to settle before discovery is concluded. Before summary judgments are filed. Such demands are a sign of weakness. If you think you have a good case, you put it on.

“The district has the legal right and the obligation to  vigorously defend itself,” Pepper continued, noting the settlement requested “equates to one-third of its annual operating budget.”

“If the board flips, they will settle. Period,” said Pepper. “But who’s going to pay? The district? What is the district?”

Under Act 1, school boards cannot raise taxes by more than four percent unless the district qualifies for exceptions, so it would need to ask the voters for approval. Pepper said taxes would need to be raised 50 percent.

Levin said the district would have to sell property, lay off staff, and cut programs to satisfy the plaintiff’s demands.

In a social media post, Marinello called that scenario “a fear tactic to the largest degree.”

“Furthermore, they conveniently neglect how Central Bucks School District has $1.4 billion in real estate holdings,” she said.

“Do these people know what sits on this real estate? Schools and playing fields, parking lots,” Pepper said. “The plaintiffs have suggested we mortgage the properties.”

In a July 27 court filing, plaintiffs’ lawyer, Ed Mazurek, suggested if the board changes from Republican to Democratic control, it would likely settle the case.

“That presents the potential for newly elected board members to constitute a majority supporting settlement. Indeed, even if all five candidates who would be new to the board are not elected, those who could combine with current members who are not running this year and will remain on the board to support settlement,” Mazurek wrote in the filing.

School Board President Dana Hunter, a Republican running for reelection, told DVJournal that Mazurek met with the Democratic candidates to find out if they would settle, but the five Republican candidates refused to meet with him.

Haring has said he would recuse himself from voting on whether to settle his wife’s case, but it would be likely to be settled if Marinello’s is.

In an email to DVJournal, Cartee-Haring said, “My case was not part of the settlement demand. CBSD did not allow me to opt into the collective action. I did not send a demand letter, nor did Ed Mazurek send one on my behalf; my concern has always been the fact that Dana Hunter did not brief the entire board on the cases even when a federal judge directed (Superintendent) Abe Lucabaugh to do so.”

Asked about that, Hunter said the legal filings list both cases together as the plaintiffs. However, she noted Cartee-Haring has filed several lawsuits against the district, starting with one regarding a coaching contract not being renewed. She demanded $750,000 for a $7,000 to $8,000 extracurricular job. Another one alleged the principal at Central Bucks West, where she teaches English, retaliated against her, Hunter said.

As for the board not being briefed on the case, Hunter asked how Cartee-Haring would know since briefings on legal matters occur in executive session unless “someone is releasing confidential information.”

Hunter added all board members were trained on what is or is not allowed. That included a mandate not to communicate with someone suing the district.

Tim Daly filed right-to-know requests and received emails from board member Tabitha Dell’Angelo showing she and Cartee-Haring exchanged several emails regarding the case. DVJournal obtained those emails. Dell-Angelo did not respond to requests for comment. She is not running for reelection.

In one message between the pair dated Aug. 28, 2022, Dell’Angelo wrote, “And I have never even gotten one update about your case in my position as a school director.”

Cartee-Haring responded, “Thank you! I believe the district is going to appeal the judge’s decision to the 3rd Circuit…so the fight continues.”

“We have multiple candidates saying to settle, including Mrs. Haring’s husband, Rick Haring, saying to settle,” Pepper said.

“In the past year, we’ve seen people threatening to burn this district down, incessant attacks, lies, smears, threatening children, my children, endangering children. And last month, the coup de grace: violence,” said Pepper.

At the September meeting, Dell’Angelo’s husband picked up a chair and appeared ready to throw it at Daly before someone intervened.

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