Recent letters published in The Herald have railed against a number of policy decisions made by The Central Bucks School District board. The most prominent of these is library policy 109.2 regarding books that may be removed from school libraries and the process for doing so.
For someone who has put two children, now middle aged adults, through the CB system, I can recall no time when school directors were so intimately involved in directly managing the social and emotional aspects of curriculum and educational experience. That has always been the role of superintendent, staff, and faculty. School directors, a hugely important role, are intended to be the “eyes and ears” of the public, overseeing good order and discipline in the conduct of the business of education delivery. They never were nor are they now qualified to dictate the substance and content of what is to be delivered.
The current board of school directors is representative of what we see in society today. Significant polarization exists in our political thought, social conduct, mores, and attitudes. Certainly there is a cohort who are comfortable with and supportive of the board’s recent decisions. There is likely an even larger population that is in disagreement with these decisions and its direction. I count myself among the latter.
If you disagree with the board’s decisions and direction, then I ask you one question: Did you vote in the last election that included candidates for Central Bucks school director? Every candidate published a resume of sorts. You could have discerned the more conservative candidates and positions they would likely take.
My point is that every resident, not just parents of students, should be evaluating and then voting on school directors. The social contract we all have is to contribute (read: property tax) to the public education of every child. You should be concerned about how your contributions are being used in the delivery of education services. I am just as concerned about quality of school directors today as I was 40 years ago when my children were students.
The current CB Board is making the decisions you read about because they can. They were elected to do what they said they were going to do, and they’re doing it.
If you don’t agree with a current board member, then the only thing you can do is cast your ballot for someone else. I strongly emphasize this point to those who now have only college students, middle aged children, or grandchildren. If you do not vote, then you are contributing to the problem.
Alan Gaudi, Doylestown
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