Wurz appointed to school board

EAST ROCKHILL >> Ronald Wurz has been appointed to the Pennridge School Board to take the seat previously held by Sherry Thompson, who resigned in March.

The unexpired term runs until the first Monday of December in 2023.

Pennsylvania’s school rules do not set any particular method for the board to choose the person being appointed, Michael Miller, Pennridge’s solicitor, said at the board’s April 19 meeting at which the appointment was made.

At Pennridge, each board member could nominate one person to fill the vacancy, after which a vote would be taken until one candidate received more than half the board votes, he said.

Eleven people applied by submitting resumes and answering a questionnaire, board President Bill Krause said.

The information provided by the candidates was given individually to each board member who chose their three top choices and rated which one was top, second and third choice, he said. A spreadsheet was then compiled to determine if there was any consensus among the board members, he said.

“We may all have different views and opinions, but we do kind of pride ourselves on working to consensus,” Krause said of the board.

The spreadsheet showed that three different persons were the top choice of at least one board member, he said.

Krause then called for nominations and nominated Wurz. There were no other nominations and Wurz was appointed by unanimous consent.

Wurz was not present at the meeting. Krause said the oath of office would be administered at another time.

“We got some really great applications from so many people. I was really impressed with the quality and the time that people took to really thoroughly answer the questions and the background and experience level of the candidates that submitted,” said board member Megan Banis-Clemens.

Wurz’s application was the strongest, she said.

He has extensive business experience running companies of all sizes and has served on five different boards, two that were forprofit companies and three that were non-profits, she said.

He mentioned several times the balancing act between the needs of students and fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers, she said.

“He talked about investigating the amount of students who are experiencing depression, anxiety and other problems associated with the pandemic. I thought that was a good suggestion,” Banis-Clemens said.

One of his focuses was on technical school, she said.

“He also talked about the focus on kids in the middle, that a lot of times we focus on trying to help kids at the bottom and kids at the top, and he thinks it’s important to also focus on kids in the middle,” Banis-Clemens said.

He also mentioned music programs and trying to bring in instruments, such as guitars, that are of more interest to students, she said.

Wurz has lived in the community over 20 years and coached for more than 10 years, she said.

He said he has no political plans to run for any other office, she said.

She described Wurz as “really well-qualified” for the position.

During the public comment period at the end of the meeting, Miller read an email from Ross McLennan, one of the applicants and a candidate in this year’s elections for four school board seats, questioning the process used in the appointments and the board’s transparency.

“We need to shine a light on the board’s hidden agenda to keep a dogmatic biased cadre at the cost of the students, the community, the taxpayers and democratic norms,” McLennan said.

In another matter at the meeting, contracts totaling $1.3 million were approved to expand the West Rockhill Elementary School parking lot and bus loading and drop-off area, along with adding a second entrance to the parking area.

“Right now, we don’t have enough room for the number of buses that actually come into that building to transport the kids, so we need to expand that area,” Sean Daubert, the district’s business administrator, said in a followup telephone interview. “We also need to expand the parking area because there’s just not enough parking at that building.”

The second entrance is being added so there are separate entrances and drop-off and pick-up areas for the buses and parents driving students to and from school, he said.

“It’s a pretty congested parking lot right now,” Daubert said. “We’re just trying to make it safer, get some more room there.”

The buses will continue using the existing entrance, while parents will use the new entrance, he said.

Resurfacing will also be done to an area that is used as a play area by students during the day and will be the parent drop-off area from the new entrance, Daubert said.

There will be a gate on the parent entrance that is closed during the day when students are using the play area and will only be opened for drop-off and pick-up times, according to information given at the April 21 West Rockhill Township Board of Supervisors meeting.

The goal is to have the work completed during the summer while school is out, Daubert said.

The district was informed it is eligible for a state grant for part of the costs, but there has not yet been a final determination the district will get that grant, he said.