A Sept. 21 guest opinion (I reported a gun at a Central Bucks meeting. Here’s what happened next) insinuated that I, as Central Bucks School Board President, ignored a potential safety situation at a spring school board meeting.
The guest opinion had been printed after the author made similar remarks at the Sept. 12 school board meeting, making the same insinuations of both Superintendent Dr. Abe Lucabaugh and me.
Soon after the author’s remarks at the meeting, one speaker shouted vulgarities at an elderly audience member and another attendee grabbed a chair, lifted it overhead and went toward another audience member before the chair was pulled from his hands. Considering safety, a top priority, we cleared the room and allowed our capable security team, along with Doylestown Township Police, to handle the matter.
We used the same tools at our disposal at the spring meeting. From the moment the firearm accusation was reported, our security team, along with Doylestown Township Police, approached this person in the parking lot.
The district worked alongside the Doylestown Township Police Department to obtain the facts, collaborate with external law enforcement agencies, including the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, and our solicitor to issue the decision that the individual would no longer be attending school board meetings. This was done for the safety of our entire community.
It was publicly known that the gentleman was never proven to have a gun and that he was banned from Central Bucks School Board meetings. To accuse Dr. Lucabaugh and me of ignoring safety concerns and “putting partisan alliances over public safety” is a mischaracterization that creates unwarranted fear and anger.
Both matters were handled by security and local police. It is offensive and dishonest to suggest that politics came into play.
It is crucial that civility be restored and this cannot happen while unfounded fear foments anger. Members of the public need to know factual information so that any fears they have after reading the Sept. 21 guest opinion can be allayed, and volatility such as the public saw at our meeting on Sept. 12 is prevented.
Our public must have full transparency of facts to turn down the temperature and reassure the public that safety is of the utmost importance so that we can get back to the task of seeing that our students get the education that propels them to a bright future.
Dana Hunter is president of the Central Bucks School Board. She lives in Buckingham.
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