Sherpinsky, Kerr to leave board
Board president, longtime vice president announce they will not seek re-election
Two longtime North Penn School Board members will not be on the ballot to keep their seats this fall.
Board President Vince Sherpinsky and longtime member Tim Kerr will not seek re-election, according to candidate lists released by the Montgomery County Department of Voter Services.
“I will miss the people and friends I have made over the years. While it hasn’t always been easy, it has been rewarding knowing that North Penn is in a far better place than when I first came here,” Sherpinsky said.
Sherpinsky was first elected to the board in 1997, and has served as its president since 2003. Initially in real estate before switching careers to teach in the Council Rock School District, Sherpinsky earned accreditation as a master board member in 2011 from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association for his board service, teamwork skills and community engagement.
Sherpinsky said this week he and his wife began caring for an elderly family member last year, which has required “a lot of time, energy, and effort.”
“My family responsibilities come first, and taking care of an elderly parent takes every minute of my spare time when I am not working, so it was the right time to focus on family,” he said.
Kerr, an attorney who specializes in contracts, was first elected in 2001 and has served on the board’s negotiations committee, which bargains with district teachers and other negotiating groups.
“It’ll be four terms, 16 years, and I always told myself that that was probably an appropriate time to move off the board. I’d like to see other people get involved,” Kerr said. “I’ve enjoyed the time, I’ve enjoyed the people, and it’s good to see that the district is doing well.”
Kerr said he was most proud of creating stability for the district, and emphasized that doing
so was a team effort with administrators, teachers, staff, and the public.
“I was one voice among many. I would never take any credit away from the folks that are there, day in and day out, getting things done,” he said.
What would Kerr tell a new board member, or his younger self?
“There is a learning curve. The thing to do for new board members is to listen — be active at meetings, but primarily listen. You don’t need a particular expertise or skill, other than being someone that’s concerned about the community and public education,” he said. “It’s a little bit of time, a little bit of patience, and commitment to doing the best you can, and making the best, informed decisions that you can for the district.”
Kerr and Sherpinsky were last elected to fouryear terms in 2013, along with fellow Republicans Frank O’Donnell, who has also served on the board since 1997, and Josie Charnock, who had served on the board in 2010-11 and was elected again two years later.
According to the county, eight candidates have cross-filed on both the Democratic and Republican ballots to fill those four seats: O’Donnell, Charnock, incumbent Pat McGee, prior board candidate Tina Stoll, and new candidates Mark Warren, Jonathan Kassa, Christian Fusco and Thomas Mancini.
McGee was appointed to the board in January following the death of board member Carolyn Murphy in December 2016. Murphy had won re-election to a four year term in 2015, and McGee was appointed by the rest of the board to serve until the 2017 election, when that seat will be on the ballot again. McGee is now running for a fouryear term, and candidates Jenna Ott and Michelle L. Rupp have both cross-filed to run for the two remaining years of what would have been Murphy’s term. Stoll, Rupp, and Fusco had all applied to the board to be selected to fill that vacancy, before McGee was selected and subsequently sworn in later in January, and Stoll, Fusco, Kassa, Warren, and Ott have all been endorsed by the North Penn Area Democratic Committee.
Sherpinsky said he felt his greatest accomplishments during his two decades on the board included restructuring the district’s long-term debt to expire over 10-year cycles, so schools could be renovated without tax increases.
“Recruiting, selecting, and hiring one of the best administrative teams in Pennsylvania, which helped North Penn become one of the highest performing school districts” in the state was another top accomplishment, he said.
Sherpinsky also led a push to implement a formal board committee system, with various members able to specialize on issues in which they have interests or expertise, which he said “increased our overall efficiency, effectiveness and success.”
Other accomplishments? “Being a part of the school board team that was able to maintain one of the lowest burdens in the county while offering the best education in the state,” Sherpinsky said. “My hope for the school board in the future is that they keep North Penn moving in the right direction.”
Kerr said he will miss the time spent debating issues with fellow board members and discussing them with residents, and said he had “the utmost respect” for Sherpinsky.
“There were some folks that thought we were an odd couple. I kind of always envisioned us sort of like the ‘Twins,’” he said, referring to the 1988 movie featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.
“I enjoyed working with him. He leaned on me for help, and I think we made a pretty good team,” he added.