School board members: Quigley snubbing meetings
State rep says invitation is ‘political theater’ by his former opponent
ROYERSFORD>> Tom DiBello, vice president of the Spring-Ford-Area School Board, doesn’t see why his state representative needs an invitation to come to a school board meeting, but after hearing Tom Quigley’s response to a question, he’s offering one anyway.
But Quigley says DiBello and newly appointed board President Joe Ciresi just want to use the opportunity for political theater and “to deflect blame away fromtheir tax-and-spend policies.”
That, plus the fact that Ciresi just lost an election trying to unseat Quigley in the 146th state House District, makes it unlikely he’ll accept that invitation any time soon, Quigley told Digital First Media.
The spat became public Monday after resident Andreina Er- win said she had spoken to Quigley and could not understand why he did not attend school board meetings occasionally.
Erwin said she’d invited Quigley to attend the meeting where the board would vote on the next step toward expanding the high school. In their conversation, Er- win said Quigley told her he “emphatically disagreed on being present.”
In their conversation, Erwin said she expressed her concern about the timing of the budget process. School districts must approve a budget prior to the
June 30 state budget deadline, without knowing the amount of state funding districts will receive for the coming year.
This has been a source of contention for school boards for years and in Spring-Ford in recent months, following the nine-month-long state budget impasse, which ended this past March. School board members have said repeatedly the state should finalize a budget before school budgets are adopted, so districts can plan their own budgets accordingly.
Erwin said Quigley told her the June 30 deadline shouldn’t impact the district’s budget processmuch because the state generally contributes the same amount each year.
“However, I believe he is the one who should be here standing up at this podium saying it to the school and the constituents,” Erwin said. “I told him he didn’t need an invitation to be here.”
Astounded by the fact that Quigley admitted he wouldn’t attend a meeting without an invitation, DiBello made it clear the lawmaker was welcome to come anytime.
“The Mercury is here and I’m putting it out to The Mercury this evening. So if you run any articles in the future please put on behalf of the Spring-Ford School Board that Rep. Tom Quigley is invited to any meeting that he wants to come to any time in the future,” he said. “And he doesn’t need a special phone call for him to show up at this meeting.”
Ciresi added that invitation was extended to all of the district’s legislative representatives.
For the seven years he has sat on the board, DiBello said he has yet to see a state lawmaker come to a meeting other than state Sen. Andy Dinniman, D19th Dist., “who doesn’t even represent us anymore.”
DiBello said he was ap- palled to learn representatives don’t want to come to school board meetings.
“They represent this community,” he said. “And they should be here. And they don’t need a special invite. But if we’re doing a photo (opportunity), I guarantee you they’d be the first ones in the parking lot.”
Quigley contacted Digital First Media Tuesday morning and said Ciresi and DiBello were just looking for someone to blame for their failures.
“Over the past two years that featured a budget stand-off and discussions on the recently passed fair funding formula, I was never invited to a school board meeting,” Quigley wrote in an email.
“The meetings over the past two years were used as political theater to aid and abet Ciresi’s campaign for state representative. Now that Ciresi was defeated in the recent election, they suddenly want to meet and discuss issues,” he wrote. “These guys don’t want to discuss issues; they want to deflect blame away from their tax-and-spend policies.”
During the budget stand-off, Quigley told a reporter he received emails about the budget from officials like Pottsgrove School Board mem- ber Rick Rabinowitz but nothing from Ciresi or DiBello.
Further, when he was mayor of Royersford, Quigley said he would reach out to legislators personally when he had questions or concerns and feels school officials should do the same thing.
Quigley said he would consider coming to a board meeting after Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s budget address is given and school funding possibilities are aired for the coming year, he said.
Quigley watched the video from Monday’s meeting and saw DiBello “ranting and raving” and believes the same thing will happen if he makes an appearance.
So is he anxious to come to another meeting for more of the same? “Probably not,” said Quigley.
Even with a guarantee of good behavior, Quigley remained unsure.
“Maybe,” he said. “But what’s the guarantee?”