Johnson Watts resigns from Allentown School Board
Cites medical concerns in stepping down near end of her four-year term
Cheryl Johnson Watts resigned Friday from the Allentown School Board, citing medical concerns.
“I’ve had some health concerns related to hypertension over the last two years,” Johnson Watts said Monday. “From a stress perspective, I started to see some additional health concerns over the past month. I got to a place where I had to make a decision.
“A school board member’s role is one of great demand,” she said. “The amount of time I would’ve taken to recover and return to the board would have gone beyond what time I have left on the board. I didn’t want to put myself or my colleagues through that. I’ve never missed a meeting my entire term. I really take the post seriously, but realize at this point that I just need to stop.”
Johnson Watts joined the board for a four-year term in 2017 and was not seeking reelection.
The board will vote to accept Johnson Watts’ resignation at its next meeting Thursday, school district officials said in an announcement. The board elected not to fill the vacancy based on the district solicitor’s advice and given the short amount of time before the Nov. 2 election, when voters will pick a candidate to replace Johnson Watts.
School board President Nancy Wilt said it was a pleasure serving with Johnson Watts.
“I thank Ms. Johnson Watts for her dedication and service to not only the school district, but to all youth of Allentown,” she said. “Her dedication to helping create a bright future for our students was tireless.”
Johnson Watts said her contributions are in the questions and concerns she raised while on the school board.
For example, one issue she raised led to the district and Lehigh Carbon Community College offering a dual enrollment program enabling students to simultaneously graduate high school and earn an associate’s degree, she said.
Johnson Watts also recalled her unsuccessful 2019 run for Allentown mayor to bring attention to the issue of school district tax revenue bases.
“Many people don’t understand why I ran for mayor while on the school board,” she said. “Many don’t understand the correlation between city, county and state tax bases for our district. Allentown is the Lehigh Valley’s only city with a school district smaller than the city it’s in.
“As a result, parts of the city of Allentown belong to other school districts, which means some city residents can vote for someone running for Allentown mayor while sending their children to Parkland district schools,” she said. “This means tax revenue is going to districts outside our city, even though some of their children live in our city. In contrast, Bethlehem Area School District extends beyond the city of Bethlehem, which means its tax base is much larger than Allentown’s. We’re losing out.”
Johnson Watts said she’s also proud to have taken part in the hiring of Superintendent John Stanford.
“During my time on the board, I did my best to focus on building on our district’s strengths and questioning why other things are done if they’re not working,” she said. “Now that we’ve set the stage for how things move forward, I believe many other things will fall into place.”