I listened to the recent Central Bucks School District special board meeting on Zoom when the law firm hired by the board — Duane Morris — presented its findings about whether the district failed to address “persistent and severe bullying of LGBTQ+ students.”
While there is clearly honest disagreement among board members about the issues at hand, I was astounded when one of the board members — Jim Pepper — called out another as a “psychopath.” And I was equally astounded when no one, including the chair of the board, called out Mr. Pepper for making such an inappropriate statement that was clearly intended to intimidate and silence his colleague.
Bullying behavior can include a lot of things, but it surely includes verbal behavior that intends to cause harm. Do board members understand what bullying behavior is? Are they trained to identify it and control it when it’s right in front of them? How can such a board be entrusted to set policy for our students when one of its members engages in bullying behavior in front of the entire community and nothing is said or done to stop it?
It’s time to change the makeup of the board and vote for Susan Gibson and Rick Haring, both of whom will work to end all acts of bullying no matter the age of the one doing the bullying.
Gerry Bogatz, Doylestown Borough
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