- Southern Lehigh school board candidates are fighting over public policy and culture war issues
- The control of the board and district policy is at stake
- Four on the Democratic ballot and two on the Republican ballot responded to questions
UPPER SAUCON TWP., Pa. — The November election for school board races is just days away and candidates for the Southern Lehigh school board are gearing up for the final stretch.
There are two sets of five-candidate slates which are battling for control of the school board and with that, the power to set district policy.
There are five, four-year seats up for grabs on the nine-member board. Southern Lehigh voters can pick from any of the 10 candidates running, but the slates are separated by significant differences on more traditional issues like property taxes and ideological topics including trans students using bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity or the way history and race are taught.
The Democratic ticket includes the only school board incumbent, Emily Gehman. The other candidates are Melissa Torba, Tim Kearney, Eric Boyer and Candi Kruse. Torba is the only registered Democrat on the slate, while the others are registered Republicans who cross-filed to run for both party nominations in the May primary. This slate of candidates is endorsed by the Southern Lehigh Education Association, the teachers’ union, and has been supported by the Southern Lehigh Community Partners PAC.
The group of candidates on the opposing slate call themselves the “True Republicans.” They are Doug Durham, Lance Tittle, James Pica, Paul Deebel and Danelle Roy. This group is endorsed by the Lehigh County Republican Committee and State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh, a former Parkland school board director. They also receive support from the Southern Lehigh Grassroots PAC.
Those running on the Republican ticket have all signed on to a controversial pledge that calls for enacting policies such as a two-year moratorium on raising millage rates; requiring school staff to notify parents of student requests to use different pronouns, names or gender identities; and prohibiting teachers and staff from posting signs or messages in classrooms or other areas that have a political or social viewpoint.
Six candidates participated in this story, including incumbent school board director Gehman, newcomers Torba, Kearney and Kruse on the Democratic slate, and Deebel and Pica on the Republican ticket.
Boyer, Durham, Tittle and Roy did not respond to requests for an interview.
The candidates who responded answered questions about property taxes, a proposed neutrality policy and support for full-day kindergarten.
Property taxes
Torba described property taxes as the “hot topic” of the school board race. She said she would look at the needs of students and provide a safe learning environment when evaluating whether to raise taxes. Kruse and Gehman said they would only raise taxes as a last resort, which Gehman said is how she has approached it in the past.
“I'd be looking at the financials,” Kearney said. “I'd be looking at administrator proposals, and overriding all of that would be supporting our students. The last resort would be raising taxes, of course. But I would not take that off the table as an option for two years like the other side did.”
“There’s no reason we have to raise taxes with what the district currently has as a budget."Republican candidate James Pica
Pica and Deebel said they oppose raising school district millage rates for at least two years. Pica said he said has seen people run out of the district because property taxes have become unaffordable. Among Lehigh County school districts, Southern Lehigh has the second lowest millage rate at 17.26 mills, with Parkland the lowest at 16.30 mills.
“There’s no reason we have to raise taxes with what the district currently has as a budget,” Pica said. “Even given teachers’ increases and raises and stuff like that. The district doesn't need to raise taxes.”
'Neutrality' on cultural, political issues
The pledge signed by the “True Republicans” includes a neutrality policy, which says that school staff would be required to appear politically and socially neutral while working on district property. It would prohibit the district or employees from appearing to support a social or political viewpoint. The stated goal is to ensure that students with diverse viewpoints don’t feel pressured to support that viewpoint or contribute in support of any political view, party or candidate. After a recent Southern Lehigh school board forum hosted by the League of Women Voters, Durham and Deebel said an example of the policy would be that a pride flag would not be allowed inside a classroom, but an American flag would be.
Gehman said classrooms are not and have never been neutral spaces where every child has a mom and a dad.
“If you're going to support kids and their education and if you're going to give them a sense of belonging to a school community, they're not going to be able to learn unless they feel welcomed and respected. They are not going to feel welcome and respected unless they see themselves reflected in the classroom around them.”School board candidate on the Democratic ballot Emily Gehman
“There are children in our classrooms who come from same-sex marriages and families and family structures, they're children in our classrooms who come from family structures, that are something other than a mom and a dad, or even a divorced and remarried mom and a dad or a single mom or single that there are kids who come from households in our district homes in our district that don't reflect that,” Gehman said.
“If you're going to support kids and their education and if you're going to give them a sense of belonging to a school community, they're not going to be able to learn unless they feel welcomed and respected. They are not going to feel welcome and respected unless they see themselves reflected in the classroom around them.”
Gehman said she does support a policy where there’s neutrality regarding value judgments on political stances.
Torba said she disagrees with the majority of the items in the pledge.
“They're not thinking of the students or the staff or our schools, they have their own agenda. And that's what's been so disheartening to observe how these individuals who have essentially termed, you know, what should an essential role, being a school board member," she said.
"They turned it into their own platform for their own personal needs, serving themselves in a small population, not considering the 3,100 plus students and 400 plus staff within our school district. They are making a mockery of what the role of the school board is intended to do.”
“We're looking to make sure that we're not infusing specific social constructs or social justice programs into a classroom environment where it certainly has no place.”Republican candidate Paul Deebel
Deebel said he and his fellow running mates want to ensure school is only a place for education. He claims a previous school administration added diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives they opposed, as well as so-called “Critical Race Theory” teachings to the curriculum. CRT is a graduate school academic framework that examines how institutions perpetuate racism. It’s become a catch-all for some who believe any discussion of race and racism is divisive.
“We're looking to make sure that we're not infusing specific social constructs or social justice programs into a classroom environment where it certainly has no place,” he said.
Kindergarten expansion
Most candidates who have participated in media interviews and public forums acknowledged the calls from some in the community for the district to offer full-day kindergarten. The issue was raised at last month’s candidate forum where all five on the Democratic ballot participated and Deebel and Durham participated from the Republican ticket. Offering full-day kindergarten likely means constructing new facilities, whether now or in the future.
From 2016 through the end of the 2019-20 school year, the district piloted a full-day kindergarten program for students who needed early literacy intervention, Gehman said. It was discontinued and replaced with smaller, half-day classes instead.
Gehman said space is a major obstacle to offering full-day kindergarten.
“We do not have the classroom space in our elementary buildings to double our kindergarten program, essentially, because right now it's half-day,” she said. “I know many people are interested in full-day kids. I think it is also a financially important thing to explore because we see our special education costs skyrocketing. And we've also seen research that shows that $1 spent in early childhood, at the kindergarten age, actually pays itself back, is worth about $6 or $7.”
Torba said she believes Southern Lehigh is the only school district in the Lehigh Valley to not offer full-day kindergarten. She said the district would have to find the space and staffing.
“That's where we would need to assess, look at our buildings, see what can we do to meet the needs for full-day kindergarten, and then add the staff and space to do so,” Torba said. “And if that has to be implemented in phases, then we need to talk to our teachers and our principals and hear their experience. Possibly talk to neighboring districts who went from a half-day kindergarten into a full day.”
Deebel said he would support an optional full-day kindergarten.
Pica said the district needs to look at growing its current facilities in the future, especially with new houses being built.
“Something needs to be done, facilities-wise in order to do that,” he said. “And you know, that's going to take planning down the road in order to be able to look at classroom sizes. I know that's something that needs to be looked at anyhow, with the growth in the district, with houses being built - classroom size, in general, is something that's going to need to have to be dealt with.”
The general election is November 7.
