Parkland School Board candidates talk plans for district’s expansion
A handful of Parkland School Board candidates — mainly incumbents — spoke on their priorities for the district if elected in November at a Wednesday forum hosted by the Lehigh County League of Women Voters.
Five, four-year seats are up for grabs, as well as a two-year term created by the resignation of state Sen. Jarrett Coleman last year.
Carol Facchiano, Chris Pirrotta, Jay Rohatgi, Lisa Roth and Marisa Ziegler attended the forum. Together, they comprise a bipartisan slate, but after crossfiling in the primary, they will all appear on the Democratic ticket. (They all are on the ballot for the four-year seats. Rohatgi is also competing for the two-year seat.)
Their opponents on the Republican ticket — Mike Deering, Beth Finch, Natalie Janotka,
Bobby Lanyon, Mike
Millo and George Rivera — did not attend the forum. They are running as the Elevate Education slate, focused on transparency and parental rights.
Mary Erdman, president of the Lehigh County League of Women Voters, said Lanyon told her his team would consider attending the forum.
But he never provided an answer, nor responded to Erdman’s follow-up invitations.
“If someone’s not willing to come out in public and talk about their topics and beliefs, is that someone we should be considering for leadership in our district?” Pirrotta said to the crowd at First Presbyterian Church of Allentown.
The candidates at the forum — all part of the Proud of Parkland slate — playfully answered “ditto” to many questions posed Wednesday, highlighting their shared vision for the district and eagerness to serve together.
Facchiano, Rohatgi, Roth and Ziegler currently sit on the school board. (Facchiano is president, and Ziegler is vice president.) Pirrotta regularly attends board meetings and has been a vocal supporter of the current board during public comment. They are all current or former district parents.
At the forum, they highlighted the success of Parkland’s arts, athletics and academics — known as the district’s three pillars — and said they want to continue the work the district is already doing.
“I don’t think anybody does it like Parkland does it,” Ziegler said.
Despite a statewide teacher shortage, Parkland is still attracting teachers, the candidates said. They attribute this in part to the resources Parkland staff have available.
“Teachers also want to be somewhere they feel like they are trusted like the experts that they are,” added Ziegler, an elementary teacher in another local district.
The candidates also praised Superintendent
Mark Madson’s leadership, and said they view the school board’s role as one of oversight.
“It’s the nine board members and the superintendent, and I take that extremely personally,” Facchiano said. “When we’re a team of 10, no one on the board is there for their own agenda or their own purpose.”
The school board is responsible for community engagement, hiring the administration and approving a fiscally responsible budget each year, candidates explained.
They agreed one of the school directors’ main priorities moving forward will be to oversee the construction and expansion of the growing district.
Parkland High School is projected to reach capacity
by 2025, and the district’s two middle schools — Springhouse and Orefield — are projected to reach capacity by 2027 and ‘28, respectively.
Two potential construction plans were developed as a result of the district’s feasibility study, which was first launched in January.
The first building option, which the district is calling Pathway A, consists of renovations and additions at both Parkland High School and Orefield Middle School. The second building option, Pathway B, entails building a new middle school and renovating Orefield Middle School with the intention of it either remaining a middle school or becoming a ninth grade center.
Madson has said he prefers Pathway A, but no final decisions have been
made. The board is expected to vote on the first steps of a construction plan in coming weeks.
Roth said the district has been financially planning for this growth period for years.
“I know there’s been some tax increases, and there’s been chatter about that going on, but we still have the lowest millage rate in Lehigh County,” said Roth, who has been on the board for 14 years. (The 2023-24 budget included a 2.5% tax increase.)
While the candidates agreed Parkland is continuing to perform well and focusing on expansion, they noted small areas of improvement.
Ziegler pointed to math scores, which sit above the state average but aren’t in line with the district’s reading scores. Pirrotta said
communication could be improved to get more residents involved with the Community Advisory Council.
When it comes to board transparency, Pirrotta said the board should share “anything and everything we’re allowed to” with the public.
The candidates noted there are some topics school directors can’t discuss with the public, such as security, personnel and legal matters.
“By definition the executive session is (about) things that we can’t talk about,” Rohatgi said. “That’s not lack of transparency, that’s actually following the law. That’s what we do.”