School board candidates differ on staffing, taxes, gender policies
Dem, GOP slates competing for 5, 4-year seats
In Southern Lehigh, two dueling sets of candidates — each with starkly different approaches to district staffing, finances and policy — are competing for control of the school board in the November election.
There are five, fouryear seats up for grabs on the nine-member board.
Southern Lehigh residents can vote for any five of the 10 candidates running, but candidates have been campaigning in teams based on their differing visions for the district.
Appearing on the Democratic ticket, Eric Boyer, Emily Gehman, Tim Kearney, Candi Kruse and Melissa Torba say they are putting “Students over Politics.” These candidates are endorsed by the Southern Lehigh Education Association — the district teachers’ union — and receive support from the Southern Lehigh
Community Partners PAC.
Among this group, Torba is the only registered Democrat; the others are registered Republicans who crossfiled and won the Democratic primary in May. Gehman, a current school director in her second term, is the only incumbent in the race.
Listed on the Republican ticket, Paul Deebel, Doug Durham, James Pica II, Danelle Roy and Lance Tittle say they are “Putting Families First.” The candidates are registered Republicans endorsed by the
Lehigh County Republican Committee and State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh/ Bucks, a former Parkland School Board director. The slate is supported by Southern Lehigh Grassroots PAC.
Durham recently joined the candidate slate after being chosen by the Southern Lehigh Republican Committee to replace Maria Schantz, who dropped out after the primary. Durham, along with Deebel, Pica, Roy and Tittle, have signed a pledge making clear their
stance on controversial issues and how they would handle them if elected, from rejecting “woke politics” to proposing policies for how the district should deal with gender.
All 10 candidates agreed to phone interviews with The Morning Call and were asked the same questions about topics ranging from teacher retention to whether the district needs a bathroom policy.
Responding to a statewide teacher shortage:
Pennsylvania has seen a 70% decrease in the number of teachers certified since 2010, and the state attrition rate has been increasing since the pandemic — nearly 10,000 teachers left the field in 2022-23.
Amy Bausher, teachers’ union president, said Southern Lehigh hasn’t been immune from the impacts of the shortage.
While Southern Lehigh still receives many applicants for elementary positions, the applicant pools are much smaller for positions requiring specialized certifications, such as special education positions, she said.
The Democratic candidates said respecting and listening to educators is necessary for attracting and retaining staff. Republican candidates said while they believe the district has been largely unscathed by the teacher shortage, they would prioritize teacher pay.
Boyer, Gehman, Kearney, Kruse and Torba said a positive work environment will keep educators in Southern Lehigh.
“Teachers want to focus on teaching,” Gehman said. “They don’t want to focus on some sort of political, ideological agenda and trying to figure out day to day what the next new policy is going to be.”
A retired Allentown teacher, Kearney fears the pledge signed by his opponents will discourage prospective teachers from applying to the district.
Kruse said she’s noticed a growing culture of questioning teachers and “concern that teachers are doing things in classrooms that they shouldn’t.”
(Part of the pledge signed by the Republican ticket proposes a neutrality policy in which teachers must “avoid the appearance” of supporting any political or social viewpoint.)
“I work in a corporate environment, where people trust me to do my job, and I’m held accountable on a regular basis, and that’s how we should be managing things,” said Kruse.
Kearney, Gehman and Torba all stressed listening to teachers about what they need to be successful as critical for teacher retention. Torba specifically pointed to the need for technology support that was recently taken away from teachers.
Gehman and Boyer said appropriate teacher compensation is essential. (The current teachers contract expires in August 2024.) Boyer also added he would explore lifestyle benefits the district can offer outside of pay.
“Those little, tiny pieces go a long way to attracting folks to workplaces,” he said.
When asked about attracting and retaining teachers, candidates on the Republican ticket said they believe the district is still attracting an adequate number of teacher applicants.
These candidates said teacher compensation is a top priority for retaining teachers. Pica, Deebel and Durham said new hires should receive pay based on their experience.
In recent years, teachers hired in Southern Lehigh have been starting at the bottom of the pay scale, despite having taught for years in other districts, according to SLEA leadership. When calculating a salary offer, Southern Lehigh has been honoring prospective teachers’ educational experience, but not their previous work experience.
“Teachers who are coming into the district with experience, we need to be rewarding that,” Deebel said.
In 2023-24, Southern Lehigh teachers at the bottom of the pay scale earn an annual salary of $57,777; at the top of the pay scale, teachers earn $99,231.
Working with teachers to negotiate the upcoming contract will be a priority for the Republican slate, they said.
Durham said he’s seen the teachers’ union work fairly with the district administration. And while he believes teachers should be paid fairly, he said there’s an “adversarial component” inherent to contract negotiations.
“You negotiate against one another,” he said. “The teachers are trying to get the best deal for themselves, and the school board is trying to get the best deal for the taxpayers.”
When and if to raise property taxes:
As part of the pledge they’ve signed, candidates on the Republican ticket — Deebel, Durham, Pica, Roy and Tittle — have promised a two-year tax moratorium; their Democratic opponents — Boyer, Gehman, Kearney, Kruse and Torba — agree low taxes are important, but won’t commit to no increases.
Southern Lehigh did not raise property taxes in the 2023-24 budget. Since 2014-15, the district has raised taxes six times and never by more than 3%.
Tittle, a former business owner and founder of Souderton Area Taxpayers Association, said he would focus on cutting “excessive and wasteful” spending.
The Putting Families First slate believes the district can rely on money in its general fund before raising taxes.
“There’s a ton of money in the district,” Pica said. “We need to make the most efficient decisions possible.”
According to the 2023-24 budget, the district has $17,048,936 in the general fund, which is akin to a savings account. This includes $4.2 million of unassigned money, which does not yet have a designated use, and $12.8 million of assigned funds, which the district does intend to use for specific purposes. (The specific uses, however, can be changed.)
Roy said Superintendent Michael Mahon has done a good job of cutting costs since he started in 2021, and as business development continues in the district, she thinks this will bring in more revenue without having to burden residents with increasing taxes. Roy also wants to focus on increasing local partnerships that can bring donations to the district.
Pica said the only scenario in which he sees raising taxes as a necessity would be “catastrophic” physical failure of district facilities. He and Durham — who suggested the potential for future tax reductions — are concerned about senior citizens in the district who live on fixed incomes.
“We need to protect seniors that are living in this school district,” Durham said. “They can no longer afford to stay in their homes because of escalating tax liability.”
On the Democratic ticket, Torba said the two-year moratorium proposed by her opponents is seemingly meant to appeal to residents without children.
“To say there would be no tax increase, you’re not putting the child first at all,” Torba said, adding the district’s foremost job is to educate students.
“Students are always going to be my first priority,” Kearney said, adding he’d keep tax increases to a minimum.
Torba said it’s important for voters to understand all Pennsylvania school districts rely heavily on local property taxes for funding. Mandated costs give the district little room to be creative with funds, she added.
This is not a structure unique to Southern Lehigh. According to the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, about 85%-90% of a school district’s budget is eaten up by mandated costs, leaving only about 10%-15% of funds for discretionary use.
“At the end of the day, [property taxes are] the main revenue source,” Boyer said, adding he wouldn’t be complacent by relying on tax increases as an “easy button.”
Community partnerships, Gehman said, are a creative way to bring additional funds into the district. While she was on the board, SLSD negotiated a health partner contract with St. Luke’s University Health Network that in part funneled donations back to the district. If re-elected, Gehman also wants to build up the district’s food service program to turn a profit.
Candidates on the Democratic ticket also pointed out that Southern Lehigh already has the second-lowest millage rate in the county when it comes to property taxes. (Parkland School District has the lowest.)
“It’s really the board’s responsibility to work with the administration to find a way to keep taxes flat as much as humanly possible,” Kruse said.
Gehman and Kruse said past candidates who campaigned on flat taxes were not able to deliver.
When it comes to affordability for seniors, Gehman promised never raising taxes above Social Security cost-of-living increases. Boyer said he would propose exploring a rebate program to benefit residents without children in the district.
“I’m going to keep [taxes] low and predictable,” Gehman said. “I can’t promise zero, but that’s me being honest.”
Is a parental-notification policy needed?
The pledge signed by the Putting Families First slate has a “biological differences” section that has attracted much community attention and debate.
It includes policy proposals aimed at making sure Southern Lehigh schools aren’t being used “to indoctrinate our students into gender ideology and queer theory,” according to the document.
One proposed policy would require district employees to notify parents of “any request by a student to be referred to by a name, pronoun, gender or other identifier that is inconsistent with that student’s legal name and biological sex.”
“We don’t want secrets, we don’t want information hidden from families,” Deebel said, adding transparency is a priority.
Five states currently have laws that require school staff to notify parents that a child is transgender; Pennsylvania is not one of these states.
Durham and Tittle said parents are the ultimate authority on their students’ gender identity and name.
It would be problematic for the district to support a student changing their gender identity if said student’s parents were “advocating exactly the opposite” at home and “trying to affirm biological gender,” Durham said.
Roy and Pica said students shouldn’t be allowed to hide information from their parents, and it’s the school district’s duty to keep parents informed.
“Being a teenager is rough,” Roy said. “I have a real problem with people wanting to separate the children from the parents.”
Though not explicitly stated in the proposed policy, Roy said the district should be required to notify parents if a student says they are gay, and Pica said parental notification should extend to student mental health concerns, too.
“If a child doesn’t want to (share information) because they’re scared (or) afraid of their family, there are means of helping a child be removed from families like that if they need to be,” Pica said. “If a child is just nervous, then I think we need to help them get through their nervousness so they can go to their parents.”
Candidates on the Democratic ticket questioned the feasibility of the parental notification policy, noting many people use nicknames.
“That’s just one more thing to put on teachers in this day and age,” Gehman said. “I trust the teacher’s judgment to use an appropriate nickname that a kid asks to be called or an appropriate name.”
Boyer, Gehman, Kearney, Kruse and Torba don’t believe a parental notification policy like the one spelled out in their opponents’ pledge is necessary.
A student’s physical safety and mental health must be prioritized when they are exploring or questioning gender, they said.
“What if that student tells that trusted adult [something personal], and then you have a policy in place that requires that adult to immediately pick up the phone and tell the parents?” Gehman said, adding a school counselor could facilitate a conversation between parents and the student instead.
Boyer said students are likely already telling their parents about which pronouns or names they want to use, and if they aren’t, there may be legitimate reasons.
The Students over Politics team said guidance counselors should be relied on to help students navigate gender and to keep parents informed, rather than enlisting a blanket policy for all cases.
According to the American School Counselor Association, parents have a federal right to see any written record about their child, but “it isn’t the school counselor’s role to ‘out’ students,” rather to “listen, support and provide unconditional positive regard.”
School counselors should respect a student’s confidentiality unless someone’s safety is at risk, according to the Educator’s Playbook from the University of Pennsylvania. This may mean discussing topics that students aren’t comfortable yet sharing with parents.
“I look at guidance counselors as being that perfect conduit to make sure that children can have a voice at home because I think that that’s the best way so that families can handle conversations,” Kruse said.
Candidates divided on need for bathroom policy:
The Putting Families First slate also believes the district needs an explicit bathroom policy, which their opponents have pushed back on as a “non-issue.”
In the pledge they signed, Roy, Pica, Tittle, Durham and Deebel agreed to vote the night they’re sworn in to have the district evaluate a bathroom policy that would require students to use the bathroom and locker room that aligns with their biological sex. If legally permissible, they would approve such a policy.
The slate says there are girls in the district who are unwilling to use bathrooms with transgender students, and as a result, are leaving the district, or forgoing bathroom use during the school day altogether.
“There’s transgender girls — biological boys —that are using the female bathrooms and are causing emotional and psychological hurt to the female students that don’t want to go to the bathroom with trans girls, who are biological boys,” Pica said.
The slate believes transgender students should feel comfortable using the restroom, too, but should use single-use bathrooms. There are already single-use bathrooms in all SLSD schools.
“Having a gender-neutral bathroom then protects them as well,” Roy said.
Durham said the small size of the transgender population — about 1.4% of all teens ages 13-17 in the U.S. identify as transgender — doesn’t make the bathroom issue “insignificant.”
“If there are females who are saying that they’re uncomfortable with the lack of privacy, we need to at least listen to that,” he said.
Pica said girls have been afraid to speak publicly about this topic for fear of being bullied. At least two parents spoke publicly about their daughters’ concerns at a March school board meeting.
Durham and Deebel said their slate won’t pursue a bathroom policy if it will cost the district exorbitant legal fees to respond to subsequent lawsuits, but Tittle expressed willingness to pursue the policy even if this were the case.
“If you’re going to get into litigation, and it’s going to cost money, so be it,” he said. “Somebody has to take a stand.”
An attorney for the district has stated publicly at past board meetings that a bathroom policy like the one proposed in the pledge is not supported by case law.
Republican candidates take issue with the solicitor’s assessment.
“I don’t know that I really believe that,” Roy said. “I think that could be a scare tactic.”
The Southern Lehigh school board candidates on the Democratic ticket respect the solicitor’s assessment of the issue and believe case law has been clear that the policy proposed by their opponents is not legal.
“I don’t support a policy that would violate law and could potentially lead to lawsuits, which then would incur costs and taxpayer dollars for those lawsuits,” Torba said.
Boyer, Gehman, Kruse, Kearney and Torba said they have not heard complaints from students or families about bathroom safety.
“From what I’ve been told, it’s not an issue, that anybody that feels uncomfortable can use a different individual bathroom, and that it’s been handled on an individual level,” Kearney said.
Boyer, a volunteer assistant baseball coach, said none of his high school players have ever mentioned an issue with SLSD bathrooms.
At a school board meeting last March, nearly 20 students, parents and community members spoke out against the Putting Families First bathroom pledge, including transgender and LGBT students. The speakers called for inclusion of transgender students in the district.
Gehman said conversations are more effective than blanket policies.
If it would make more students comfortable, the school board could increase single-use bathrooms or fully enclose stalls in multi-user restrooms in the future, she said.
Ultimately, the Students over Politics team said their opponents are focused more on bathrooms than academics.
“This to me, seems like a deflection from that slate, a deflection of real issues,” Torba said.