Cullen, Reiss chosen to lead board

New members are sworn in

EAST ROCKHILL » Joan Cullen is the new Pennridge School Board president and David Reiss moves into the vice president’s slot Cullen previously held.

Each was the only person nominated for the position, then elected by board acclimation at the board’s Dec. 6 reorganization meeting.

The meeting also included the swearing in of newly-elected board members Christine Batycki, Jordan Blomgren and Ricki Chaikin, along with incumbents Bob Cormack and Ron Wurz, who were re-elected.

Magisterial District Judge Regina Armitage administered the oath of office.

“I’m proud of every one of you. I know after 2020, everybody was looking to get back to normalcy, and for a candidate on a ballot,” she said, “it was not normal, so your perseverance, your diligence, it all paid off. I congratulate all of you. Take care.”

“Thank you everyone,” Cullen said after being chosen as president. “I look forward to getting to work and welcome new board members. It’s gonna be a great four years.”

She thanked the new board members for volunteering to serve.

During public comment, Larry Cullen congratulated the new board members, president and vice-president and said, “Happy anniversary to the president of the board.”

Joan Cullen said the couple’s 25th wedding anniversary was the following day.

In other public comments:

• Liz Diehl congratulated the new and re-elected board members, describing them as “exceptional people.”

The board works together with everybody, she said.

“You’re not biased. You really, really care about the children,” Diehl said.

• Robert Linden said as he talks to people in the community, he hears a common message.

“This is a public school. It’s owned by the taxpayers. It’s not owned by those who work here or the board members. You just represent the taxpayers,” he said, “and the common message is we’d like to see the curriculum and know what you’re teaching.”

He said he hopes the board will remember that in its meetings and decisions.

• The mother of a transgender student at Pennridge High School said her son recently found an anti-transgender note under the windshield wiper of his vehicle in the school parking lot.

The school was not able to identify who left that note, but has moved her son’s parking space to one where there are security cameras, she said.

There has been a push in the Pennridge district against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, with people asking for more data to show the need, she said.

“For those of you looking for statistics and data, that’s us,” the woman said, saying she’s heard the stories of other current students, as well as her son.

“Please know that the point of my time here tonight was simply to bring awareness that stuff goes on at Pennridge that no one knows about and if we took the time to listen to students rather than guessing based on what parents think goes on here, we’d be far better off,” she said.

“It’s time we looked deeper at the needs of the children. The school day is filled with academics, yes, but these children are here seven plus hours per day and they’re not robots. They also need care, concern, respect, safety. In previous discussions the board has mentioned that the school should be a learning environment,” the woman said. “How can he be learning in an environment where he doesn’t feel safe? We must do better.”