Dear State College Area School Board members,
You’ll soon be selecting and appointing a new board member to fill a vacancy. The person you choose will sit with you on the board for a little less than a year, before a duly-elected member takes over the seat. Because this temporary board member will be appointed by you rather than elected at-large by the voters in the district, it gives you an interesting opportunity to show how committed you are to the “School Climate/Inclusive Excellence Policy” you adopted in January 2017.
As I’m sure you are aware, each of you is elected at-large by the voters in the entire school district. The downfall to this type of system is when one political party, ideology or viewpoint holds even a slight majority within the district, it is not only possible, but likely, that party, ideology and viewpoint become a monopoly on the board. In addition, simply from a geographic standpoint, the school district covers approximately 150 square miles of land across five townships and the borough, yet several board members live in the same neighborhoods. And I don’t believe Halfmoon Township has a resident on the board.
Your School Climate/Inclusive Excellence Policy “serves as the umbrella policy for all relevant District policies and sets forth the Board’s expectations for inclusive excellence.” It is “the understanding that working, living, and learning environments benefit when diversity in thought, learning, and personal characteristics is recognized and utilized.” During a normal election process you don’t have much power in influencing how that diversity would come to pass on the board. But here, where you are the ones making the decision about who gets a seat as a board member, you now have a unique opportunity to show exactly how loyal you are to the diversity policy you created.
I would suggest that as you review the resumes and cover letters of the applicants and conduct your in-person interviews you look for someone who holds some or all of the following diverse viewpoints.
1. Find someone who is committed to changing the election of the nine school board members from an at-large election to a region election. An election where the district is divided into nine similarly-sized regions – most commonly called “wards” in normal practice – and each geographic region elects one board member. Although it doesn’t guarantee that the board won’t be monopolized by political party or ideology, it does make it a bit more difficult for that to happen, and it does at least guarantee geographic diversity.
2. As you interview candidates, under the guise of continuity and/or “learning the ropes,” you will likely ask them if they plan to run for election for this seat in the upcoming election. As long as you’re asking that, why not also ask if they plan to cross-file for nomination? Then find someone who says that they will only run for election under the party with which they are registered as a voter.
Although the Election Code allows candidates to cross-file for nomination for school board, to me it’s a concerning practice. Most other elected office-holders, from the president of the United States on down, run as members of the political party under which they are registered to vote. School board members however, are allowed to run under both major political parties. While some may suggest this presents an air of non-partisanship, I would suggest it’s just the beginning of a slippery slope of misinformation. That once school board members convince themselves that this is an acceptable practice, that even though they are clearly registered under one political party, it’s OK to take on the mantle of the other political party, one whose viewpoints might make their proverbial blood boil, that they’ve compromised themselves in a way there’s no going back from. Choose a side, and be that diversity.
3. Find a candidate who is motivated to change the name of the school district to the State College Area Education District. Calling it a “school” district puts the emphasis on schools. Granted, the word “school” has for more than a century been synonymous with education, but we’re in the 21st century now. Education is happening at home, in non-traditional buildings and over the internet.
The district’s Mission Statement is “To prepare students for lifelong success through excellence in education.” There is no mention of “schools” in that mission statement – only education. The point being we don’t care how the children of this community get educated, just that they do. And while traditional school buildings are still used by the majority of students, they are not necessary for excellence in education.
If the district wants to be on the forefront of this diversity movement of embracing all educational avenues regardless of the environment, it needs to get rid of that “school” mindset. Renaming takes the focus off the buildings and puts it where it should be, on the education. Heck, the teachers have long since gone this route – the teacher’s union is named the State College Area Education Association and their purpose/mission statement only speaks of education, not schools.
4. Find a board member who is against raising taxes. Even though last year the school district had $4.7 million more in revenue than projected, spent $3.2 million less than projected, and even the worst projections don’t show a negative fund balance until the 2028-2029 school year, you voted unanimously to approve a 2022-23 budget that includes a tax increase of 3.4% — the maximum allowed by law under the Act 1 Index.
I understand that Happy Valley is an affluent area, and the overwhelmingly predominant industry here is education, but you have a fiduciary responsibility to all the financially diverse residents of the district. And there are more than a few for whom tax increases, especially when not needed as is clearly the case here, could cause financial hardship. Having someone on the board who understands that and reflects that would be a testament to a different viewpoint.
5. And lastly, identify a candidate who is supportive of alternative education models. The board has a history of creating a challenging environment for educational models that don’t fit its traditional mold, most recently in February of 2021 when you passed a resolution calling for the Pennsylvania General Assembly to institute charter school legislation reform.
Personally, I was introduced to this challenging environment when my family and I moved back here in late 2005. We arrived a few months into the school year, and my wife went to the school district offices to let them know we were residents and were homeschooling our children. She came home frustrated due to the treatment she received. As a point of reference, prior to homeschooling our kids, my wife was a senior administrator in the ninth largest school district in the country. As I am a member of the school district’s Citizens Advisory Committee for Finance – a wonderful concept that I congratulate you for having and which should be maintained – I’ve unfortunately witnessed this continued dislike toward alternative education. Diversity in educational practices should be celebrated!
As I said at the beginning, in a normal election you can’t manifest diversity on the board. However here, at this moment, you as the Board of Directors are making the choice of who will join you on the board. You have a great opportunity to exhibit the ideals you laid out in your Inclusive Excellence Policy. I implore you to take what you wrote in that policy to heart and find someone diverse in thought and learning so that the entire education system in Happy Valley benefits from your choice.
Thank you for your time and best wishes.
