- Six of the nine seats on Parkland School Board are up for election
- Two opposing candidate groups will face off in the general election on Nov. 7
- One is made of mostly incumbents, and the other of Republican challengers
SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — With six out of nine seats up for election, the upcoming election could drastically affect Parkland School Board.
Five four-year seats and one two-year seat are up for election on Nov. 7. The two-year term was created by state Sen. Jarrett Coleman’s resignation from the board in December.
Key issues in the race include transparency, spending and how the district should deal with projected overcrowding in its middle and high schools.
Campaigns have drawn thousands of dollars in fundraising, including $5,000 from the controversial statewide PAC Back to School PA, as school board races across the region and country have become hotbeds for political debates.
The race features two opposing slates of candidates that both secured party nominations after campaigning as groups in the primary.
The group that won the Republican nomination is called Elevate Education and also goes by Education First for Parkland. It is made up of Republican challengers who frequently have criticized the current board for not being more transparent and for raising taxes.
The group that won the Democratic nomination is called Proud of Parkland. It is mostly made of incumbents who campaign on nonpartisanship and fiscal responsibility.
The candidates
Proud of Parkland is made up of incumbents Carol Facchiano, Jay Rohatgi, Lisa Roth and Marisa Ziegler, as well as newcomer Chris Pirrotta.
Facchiano is Parkland Aquatic Club's office administrator and president of the board, Pirrotta is vice president of marketing at Sideshow, Rohatgi is the vice president of product management at Infor, Roth is project coordinator at Air Products and Ziegler is a public school teacher and the vice president of the board.
Facchiano and Roth are Republicans, and Rohatgi, Ziegler and Pirrotta are Democrats.
Elevate Education is made up of Republican challengers Mike Deering, Beth Finch, Natalie Janotka, Bobby Lanyon, Mike Millo and George Rivera.
Deering is a business owner of commercial real estate, Finch describes herself as a married professional, Janotka is a licensed professional counselor, Lanyon is the chief executive officer of AIG Safety, Millo is a former educator and Rivera is a manager at a major restaurant group.
Voters can choose candidates individually and do not have to vote for the whole group.
All the candidates in the race will be on the ballot for the four-year seat except Millo, who is only running for the two-year seat. Millo said previously that he plans to run again for a four-year term if he wins this election.
Rohatgi won the Democratic nomination for the two-year seat as well as the Democratic nomination for one of the four-year seats.
If Rohatgi were to win both seats, he would choose which seat to fill and the board would appoint someone else to fill the vacancy.
Elevate Education
Elevate Education’s main priorities are reducing spending in the district, increasing transparency on the board and increasing parental involvement in education, according to its website.
The group has criticized the school board’s vote to increase the district's property tax millage rate 1.2% for this school year and has pledged to “elevate education not taxes.”
It said on the website that it would “create a more fiscally responsible educational organization” to avoid tax increases.
Members of the slate have criticized spending the board has approved, such as buying an $80,000 aquatic scoreboard rather than a $20,000 alternative. The board at the time said that the more expensive alternative could generate advertising revenue to offset the cost.
Lanyon, Janotka and Finch also recently spoke out against the board’s lack of transparency when it renewed a sports medicine and health needs partnership with St. Luke’s University Health Network.
“It is not in the purview of the school district to highlight one cultural background over another but rather, first and foremost, to be a community.”An emailed statement from Elevate Education
On an episode of the podcast "Gunther Rewind" that since has been removed from the website, Finch said she thinks “tenets of CRT” are being taught in Parkland schools through social/emotional learning and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
CRT stands for Critical Race Theory, which has become the term used in debates across the country about how race and racism should be discussed in schools.
In an earlier emailed response to questions about whether those statements reflect the group’s position, the group said that the district’s cultural diversity should be celebrated, but “it is not in the purview of the school district to highlight one cultural background over another but rather, first and foremost, to be a community.”
The group’s website says parental involvement “includes controversial societal trends that are embedding themselves into school systems across the country,” but does not say anything specific about the issues.
Elevate Education has been endorsed by the Lehigh County Republicans.
The statewide PAC Back to School PA recently gave Elevate Education $5,000, and the PAC’s cofounder Paul Martino of Bucks County gave the group $3,000 during the primary, according to campaign finance reports.
Martino said his PAC is nonpartisan and focused on keeping schools open and combatting learning loss from virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But critics have questioned his motives, since he mostly backs Republican candidates as school boards have become the center of political debates across the country.
Proud of Parkland
Proud of Parkland’s main pitch to voters is that the district is doing well, and the group can help keep it that way.
“With seasoned educational leaders from both Republican and Democratic backgrounds, we represent a diverse and balanced approach to governance,” the website reads.
“Together, we pledge to uphold and advance our district's enduring legacy of excellence.”
Facchiano, the president of the board, said the main issue facing the district is how it will handle the projected overcrowding in its middle and high schools.
“Maintaining a healthy, responsible fund balance will absolutely help us when we go for ratings for borrowing."President of the Parkland School Board Carol Facchiano
At the last board meeting, Superintendent Mark Madson recommended the board move forward with a plan to build additions onto the high school and Orefield Middle School.
Board members did not vote at that meeting but appeared to show support for the plan.
Facchiano said the recent tax hike was needed to maintain the district’s fund balance, which will be important when it comes time to borrow money for the building projects.
“Maintaining a healthy, responsible fund balance will absolutely help us when we go for ratings for borrowing,” Facchiano said.
Members of Proud of Parkland often have emphasized that the district has the lowest property tax millage rate in Lehigh County.
Regarding CRT, members of the candidate group have said they are not concerned about how the current curriculum addresses race and racism. Pirrotta said previously he thinks teachers know what is appropriate for each age level.
“My view is we should listen to the experts,” Pirrotta said.
The slate’s website has the phrase “Let’s say ‘No’ to national divisive politics” on the front of its website.
Ziegler, vice president of the board, said the group decided to put that phrase prominently on its website because there have been local examples of divisive politics coming into school board decisions, such as in Central Bucks School District.
“We have a board that has put students first and hasn't been entangled in all of that,” Ziegler said.
Proud of Parkland is endorsed by U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, D-Lehigh, and state Rep. Mike Schlossberg, according to the website.
League of Women Voters Lehigh County will hold a candidate forum for the race on Wednesday, Oct. 11, in First Presbyterian Church of Allentown.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the host of the candidate forum. It is the League of Women Voters Lehigh County.
