By Liz Downing, LWVBC Advocacy Co-Director
About a year and a half ago, I heard some rumblings from friends and neighbors about the divisiveness at Central Bucks School Board meetings and decided to find out what was going on. I am a retired educator, having taught for 30 years in a public high school in New Jersey. I truly believe that the value of public-school education for every young person cannot be overstated.. All children must have access to free, quality educational opportunities. I was taken by surprise when I was told that there had been blatant hate speech at a school board meeting. I watched a recording of the meeting and heard a virulent antisemitic rant followed by a hate filled homophobic statement. I felt compelled to learn more and discover how our board could fail to make a statement condemning hate speech.
As I learned more and became more involved, I became aware that the members of the board are following an agenda that is being driven by extremists. I started attending school board meetings and listening to board members as well as the public comments. Students, faculty, and staff of the school attend in large numbers to support the students who are becoming more and more marginalized by the board policies.
During 2021-2022 academic year, the teachers at Lenape Middle School were instructed to remove gay pride flags or any other symbols supporting the LGBTQ+ community. That same year, an instructor at Lenape who had tried to provide support for an LGBTQ+ student at Lenape was suspended for the rest of the school year and reassigned to another school the following year. As a result of these actions, the ACLU has filed suit on behalf of several Lenape Middle School Students for creating a “hostile learning environment”
In subsequent months, the school board has proposed increasingly alarming policies, such as changing sex education for 4th, 5th and 6th grade students from an “opt-out” program to an “opt-in” curriculum, screening books at the school libraries that would eliminate books with LGBTQ or sexual content, and forbidding teachers from displaying anything in their classrooms that was not directly related to their curriculum.
As an educator, I am worried about the education being provided to our young people. As a taxpayer, I am concerned about the $15,000/month being paid to a PR firm to try and rationalize the decisions being made by the current board. I am also very concerned about the law team they have hired to fight the ACLU lawsuit which SHOULD be addressed by rectifying the problems in our school rather than denying them.
Sadly, these incidents are not unique to the Central Bucks School District. The school board meetings in my district have garnered national attention as part of a pattern of extremism that endangers public schools around the country. I would encourage all of you to get involved at whatever level you are comfortable to advocate for equity in our public schools. Here are just a few ways you can make a difference:
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Contact your School Board Members with your concerns. Even if your school board is organized into regions, all board members serve ‘at large.’ Go to your school district’s website to find the contact information for all nine school board members and the Superintendent.
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Attend monthly board meetings or committee meetings. Sign up to speak during the public comment portion, or just attend as an observer. You don’t need to be a parent of a student in the district to attend a meeting. Visit your district’s website to find the dates and times of these meetings, and their specific procedures for submitting public comment.
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Be an informed voter in local elections. In a few months, the 2023 Municipal Election cycle will begin, which means about half of all School Board Director positions will be up for re-election in each of the thirteen school districts in Bucks County. Once the candidates have filed their petitions, go to vote411.org to learn where your candidates stand on the issues.
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Run for School Board Director yourself! As long as you are a US citizen aged 18 or older, and have been living in your district since November 2022, you can run for school board director. If you would like to learn more, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) offers webinars on how to begin the process. Click here to learn more about running for school board.
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Talk to your friends and family about these issues and get them involved. Spread the word about our local races and Vote411, either through print media like letters to the editor, social media or just word of mouth.
If you would like to learn more about becoming an effective advocate on this issue and others, then come join us on the Advocacy Team at the League of Women Voters of Bucks County.
For more information:
https://6abc.com/central-bucks-school-district-hate-speech-freedom-of-transgender-slur/112208
