Board elects Huzzard new VP

One month after ousting its old vice president for unnamed “offenses,” the Owen J. Roberts School Board has settled on a new vice president.

In a 6-3 vote at the April 23 board meeting, Lisa Huzzard was chosen over the second nominee, board veteran Cathie Whitlock, as the school board’s new second-incommand.

Whiel the majority on the board supported Huzzard, Whitlock received votes from herself, ousted former vice president Heather McCreary and Leslie Proffitt.

McCreary, Proffitt and Karel Minor were the only board mem

bers to explain their votes, according to a video recording of the meeting.

“Mrs. Whitlock was on the board for 18 years and since I was removed, and I had about 2½ years, which might be the same as Mrs. Huzzard. I think we need to bring someone in to this position who actually has the experience and personality and also served as school board president during her tenure,” McCreary said.

Proffitt offered similar reasons saying “I’m voting for Mrs. Whitlock because of her experience and I think we need that.”

In explaining his vote, Minor said what the Owen J. School Board does not need more of is “drama.”

“I’m voting for Mrs. Huzzard because I think she can be the most effective,” Minor said. “I think it has been established that having a member of the minority – meaning the drama – is not necessarily going to be terribly effective, so in this case, I’m supporting Mrs. Huzzard.”

Given that school board positions are non-partisan, it was not immediately clear what Minor meant when he described Mrs. McCreary as a member of the “minority.”

There was no shortage of drama at the March 19 meeting at which McCreary was removed where accusations of everything from retaliation for a vote to one board member throwing items at others during a committee meeting were all part of the discussion.

At that same meeting, school board President Melissa Booth said McCreary had violated policy on several matters, including violating “confidentiality” and “failing to honor the sanctity of executive session” from which the public can be excluded for specific reasons.

McCreary said she was ambushed and insisted that emails from Booth leading up to the March 19 meeting had indicated only that she intended to alter McCreary’s committee assignments.

On March 28, The Mercury filed a Right to Know request for those emails. On April 5, the district responded that because the emails might require a legal review, it could not satisfy or deny the request for 30 days from the day the request was filed.

That gives the district until Saturday, May 5, to comply with timelines established under Pennsylvania’s Right to Know law.

The ramification of the board’s actions continue to echo at the meetings.

Toward the end of the April 23 meeting, resident Colleen Blute chided the board for its behavior, saying “how can you expect students to act appropriately when you people can’t even treat each other with respect and courtesy?”

“How can you expect students to act appropriately when you people can’t even treat each other with respect and courtesy?” Colleen Blute, Owen J. Roberts School District taxpayer “I think it has been established that having a member of the minority – meaning the drama – is not necessarily going to be terribly effective, so in this case, I’m supporting Mrs. Huzzard.” Karel Minor, Owen J. Roberts School Board