Whether or not you have children who attend Pennridge schools, if you live in the district, your vote is essential in the school board election this November. The outcome of this election will impact all of us, so you cannot afford to sit this one out.
Our district consists of eight municipalities, with approximately 50,000 residents and growing. Among those 50,000 residents there are only about 35,000 registered voters, less than half of whom voted in the 2021 school board election. The difference in the number of votes between the top two candidates that year was less than 1,700. A different outcome could have easily been determined by those 18,000 or so voters who simply decided not to vote.
Although you are voting for a Republican or a Democrat, a school board director is meant to be a nonpartisan role. The 2021 election resulted in a sweep by registered Republicans, leaving us with a 9-0 Republican board. This alone suggests a lack of balance and representation for stakeholders across the district. Unfortunately, the majority of these nine officials are taking advantage of this imbalance to implement policies and curriculum into our public schools that reflect their ideologies and do not align with the will of the stakeholders (which includes parents, staff, residents with or without children, and students).
I do not believe that the average Pennridge voter would identify and agree with most of the decisions the board has made over the last two years.
We cannot allow this current board to continue to steamroll curriculum and policy changes that fit a personal, political agenda. Our highly qualified teachers and administrators are leaving the district, and the quality of education for students is dropping.
In time, our property values will drop if people don’t want to live in this district.
We have a choice this November between ignoring our problems or voting for change and balance on the board. I urge all of you to register and vote, either by mail or in person. We need everyone to show up this year.
Stacey Smith lives in Perkasie Borough. She’s also part of the Pennridge Improvement Project, which has been working to reintroduce the community to books that were removed from school libraries.
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