Allentown School Board hopefuls share their experience, priorities at candidate forum

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown School Board hopefuls made pitches to voters Tuesday, sharing their takes on how to support teachers, create safer learning environments and bolster students’ well-being.

The candidate forum was organized by Allentown Crime Watch Presidents’ Council and held at St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Allentown. The League of Women Voters of Lehigh County moderated the event.

Allentown School District has five school board seats up for grabs this election cycle.

All are four-year terms, except for one that is a two-year term created by the resignation of former school Director Daysell Ramirez in July.

Who are the candidates?

School Director Nick Nicholoff is running unopposed for the two-year term. He was appointed in August to fill Ramirez’s seat until voters could decide on a replacement in November 2025.

Nicholoff is an independent running as a Democrat. He is the only person currently on the school board who will appear on the May 20 primary ballot.

Nicholoff attended the Tuesday forum.

School Directors Lisa Conover, LaTarsha Brown, Phoebe Harris and Jennifer Lynn Ortiz are not seeking re-election.

There are eight candidates hoping to fill their seats in November.

Five were at the Tuesday forum: Evette D’Amore, Cereta Johnson, Dianne Michels, Denzel Morris and Robert Smith Jr.

Michels and Smith are Republicans who cross-filed; D’Amore, a Democrat, also cross-filed. Johnson and Morris are running as Democrats.

Candidates Tom Houck, Michael McDermott and David Zimmerman did not participate in the forum. Organizers said they did not respond to an invitation for the event by the given deadline.

Houck is a Republican, McDermott is a Democrat and Zimmerman cross-filed.

At the forum, candidates spoke about their backgrounds, why they should be chosen as a school director and their top priorities for the school district in coming years.

Evette D’Amore

D’Amore, 54, is an office manager for a local electrician and a Dieruff High School parent.

D'Amore said her experience as a mother would be an asset as a school board member.

“I believe in all children — they should all have what they need to succeed,” she said. “I’m a believer in public education.”

D’Amore’s sons have autism and other disabilities. She said students with special needs don’t always get the attention they deserve unless someone is advocating for them.

She said advocating for those students would be a priority for her if elected to the school board.

D’Amore also said it’s important students get a “well-rounded” education, which includes opportunities for the arts, sports and clubs. She said she would make sure those activities aren’t cut from future budgets.

She also supports “safe, secure” schools and giving both students and teachers the “tools and respect” they need to be successful.

Additionally, the district shouldn’t over rely on test scores to measure growth, she said.

D’Amore previously was a purchasing agent for the state Transportation Department.

That job gave her experience with state budgets that would translate to the work the school board does to approve an annual budget, she said.

Cereta Johnson

Johnson, 44, is an entrepreneur and owner of Children of Joy Christian Academy, an early childhood education program that has two locations on Allentown’s East Side.

She's also a real estate developer with commercial properties in Allentown.

Additionally, Johnson created her own foundation to do international missionary work, helping feed, educate and house people abroad.

In Allentown, she provides summer camps, as well as programs to watch children before and after school. She also helps organize the annual Juneteenth cultural celebration at Cedar Beach Park.

Johnson, a former district parent and ASD graduate, also previously worked as a paraprofessional at Dieruff. That gave her insight into the school district, she said.

“One thing that was missing was the whole-child approach,” Johnson said.

She said the school board acted like “a dictatorship,” issuing mandates to administrators that were passed on to teachers and students.

“No one really took the time to understand what children needed inside of the classroom,” she said.

“It is great that we put different policies together and figure out the budget and all of those things, but if we truly don't understand what our children need, we — I’m sorry to say it — but suck, right?”

Johnson said school safety, district policies and the annual budget would be her priorities if elected as a school director.

Dianne Michels

Michels, 68, is a licensed professional counselor. She also manages a counseling practice at a nonprofit agency.

She has 20 years of experience working with people in a drug and alcohol recovery program. She also previously was a teacher and ran a learning support center.

“The bottom line is I care for the kids of Allentown,” she said. “I want the kids to have a fair and good education for them.”

She said it’s important to meet students where they’re at when it comes to classroom instruction.

Michels said some parents can’t advocate for their children because they’re busy with life circumstances, such as working multiple jobs.

That’s why it’s important for school directors and the district to advocate for students to receive support services, she said.

She said the district has to address safety concerns to keep teachers satisfied in their jobs so they can effectively teach students.

“If they’re unhappy, how much can they perform?” she said.

Michels said teachers need support in the classroom from additional staff, such as instructional assistants.

She also said student behavior needs to be addressed so staff and students alike aren’t physically harmed.

Denzel Morris

Morris, 32, is a Google software engineer and Allentown native.

He’s also the father of a 3-year-old and a volunteer with Girls on the Run, a program that aims to build girls’ confidence through running.

Morris said he wants to serve on the school board to do his civic duty.

“I’m very, very motivated to get better outcomes for our students,” he said.

Morris said he wants students to be independent learners. He thinks the district’s curriculum should incorporate “inquiry-based learning.”

“We need to give these students the tools such that they can be productive citizens in the community,” he said.

Morris, who attended the former Swain School in Allentown, said he learned important skills as a Swain student, such as critical thinking, time management and emotional regulation.

“These are the same tools we need to give our Allentown School District students,” he said.

On school safety, he said students who act out are likely “going through something.”

“A student doesn’t just wake up and say, ‘Oh, I want to punch my teacher in the face,’” he said. “I don’t think that happens.

"So we have to meet them where they’re at and problem solve problem-solve together.”

Robert Smith Jr.

Smith, 63, served four terms as an Allentown school director from 2003-19.

He was board president five times and never missed a meeting in 16 years, he said.

“I can hit the ground running, there’s no learning curve,” said Smith, a former ASD parent who works in the health care field with brain injury patients.

Smith said it takes months to gain your footing as a newcomer on the school board. His experience would be an asset on such a young board, he said.

A proud East Side resident, Smith said, he wants to become a school director once again because of the upcoming school project on the former Allentown State Hospital property.

He co-chaired the building committee when the school district was constructing Hays Elementary School, which Smith said was finished “on time and under budget.”

As for current district issues, Smith said he’s concerned about building safety, inadequate training for security guards and increasing student misbehavior.

Additionally, he said the district is struggling with retaining staff members, who are accepting jobs in other Lehigh Valley school districts.

“There’s a teacher shortage and all the other districts are cherry-picking our great talent," he said. "And it’s got to stop."

"And we have to ask why. If employees are leaving, there’s a reason, and it's a lack of leadership at the top.”

Smith said he supports Superintendent Carol Birks, who has stabilized the district. But he said ASD still is feeling the effects of frequent turnover of superintendents in recent years.

Nick Nicholoff

Nicholoff, 29, is a current school director and chairman of the board’s policy committee. He is running unopposed for a two-year term.

Nicholoff is a human resources professional at a local Silgan Containers location.

Through this role, he writes policy, develops strategy, conducts investigations and resolves interpersonal conflicts at the food can manufacturing plant.

Previously, he had roles as a forklift operator and a domestic violence counselor.

“I’ve had the luxury of working with people from all different backgrounds, age groups and walks of life,” Nicholoff said. “I know the different challenges that they have.”

One of his main priorities as a school director is getting ASD to teach elementary school students about logic, problem solving and the rules of inference, he said.

Nicholoff said studies show these skills will help students “to be successful adults later on.”