Op-Ed: Voters Should Choose Wisely in Upcoming School Board Races

With candidate filing deadlines a couple weeks away, a new electoral season is almost upon us. Notably up for grabs are four crucial seats on the board directing the biggest tax-funded, government-supplied and locally sourced product in Saucon lives—our schools. Saucon Valley’s district budget dwarfs the municipal budgets of Hellertown and Lower Saucon’s combined. Still, school board attracts a fraction of public attention, and finding quality candidates tends to be like pulling broken, rotted teeth from a tiger—a tiger who spends too much time on Facebook.

Every single child and taxpayer and local business, whether they’re directly involved with our district or not, is affected by our district’s success or failure. With the stakes so high, may I humbly suggest one thing?

Don’t elect fools. Choose, if you can, sane, thick-skinned grown-ups who will focus on the education part of public education, and do so in a financially sustainable way. That fundamental remit should be simple to grasp, even if it’s tricky to pull off.

School board involves no stipend or pay and asks for long, thankless hours of poring over minutia of policy, budgets, contracts and curricula. No candidate is ever perfect. Let’s get that out of the way. But some of them should carry big red flags.

Here’s who you will want to avoid:

Drama-addicts. Watch out for gossipy, litigious, fire-them-all candidates who focus on various hot-button controversies and love a good social media rant. These rumor-mongering extroverts will get lots of attention and make lots of noise, and they all seem to have some awkwardly personal school-related horror story they’re ready to relate, and they’re often threatening to contact a lawyer. They sometimes suggest, darkly, that there’s a big conspiracy run by the elite outsiders. Once in office, they either have to broaden their scope—or they fail. If they can settle down, grow up and learn to trust and respect others (don’t count on it), there might be some good directors in there, but they often seem more excited by “stuff-stirring” and chin-wagging than governance. 

Partisan warriors. For them, local boroughs, townships and school districts are simply a convenient battle-zone for grinding big Republican or Democratic axes. These people are a pox on schools, frankly, and on local municipalities, too. I should know: I was one. Thankfully, I changed my attitude. Party soldiers need to go away and run for the state Assembly or Congress, and take their friends with them. On any given day, they’re more interested in talking about what happened in Washington or on Fox or CNN than what’s happening at Saucon Valley Elementary. Their entire universes swivel upon a liberal vs. conservative axis, and they actually see party membership as a kind of genetic state. If elected, they’re less engaged with the grind of local school governance. On the other hand, if they find productive ways to channel their Big Issue fervor, maybe they can serve. But it’s a huge gamble.

Big Fish. Welcome to the Saucon Valley High class of 1984. Or 1995. Or 2002. The popularity contest is still on with these folks, and it pretty much defined their lives. But they deserve not so much red flags as small yellow warning buzzers, since they can actually make decent school directors. They’ll sometimes sacrifice much time in public service (for the price of respecting them), but they’re also almost congenitally biased towards “the way it used to be” being better and their cliques of old friends, relatives and drinking buddies. These are your hometown power-brokers who know everyone and go to everything. They’re the only ones allowed to go negative, which, they actually end up doing quite often. Their secret-sauce? Popularity. They distrust anyone not born here (which is basically almost all the school board), unless, of course, it’s someone who agrees with them about everything—and then you’re an honorary, second-class member of their circle. They often bring a reservoir of local goodwill and contacts to the school board, but they tend to love various local in-crowd affiliations and partnerships, and this can either help or hurt the district. 

The Spreadsheeters. These are often the sort of bland fiscal hawks for whom avoiding tax increases is practically a second form of religion and who feel they must run for school board because Ronald Reagan isn’t available, although they’re not all necessarily conservative. These types will typically fly under the radar, publicly, but have a lot conservative support in the township and offer a very clear agenda, despite occasionally sprinkling a few “kids should come first!” and “respect our parents!” admonitions onto their campaign lit. What they sometimes lack in charisma (they often wear their phones on belt holders) and interest in things like books (unless it’s QuickBooks), they compensate for in unimaginative determination and attention to the little details. The best ones volunteer for things locally; the worst tend to be rooted in front of screens all day, drooling over Excel sheets.

The Eggheads. I love these types, personally. They’re the nerdy, well-educated and thoroughly imperfect candidates who focus on academic excellence but hold the line on finances. They’re not miserly, but they eschew fluff. They use phrases such as “fiscal sustainability” a lot, but they never let go of academic accountability and aspiration either, and they still think test scores matter. They’re all about quality teaching and maximum learning opportunities. Eggheads will be treated as cultural elites because, well, striving to push students to take calculus before they graduate is a severe form of discrimination, almost as bad as making a kid read The Scarlet Letter or Moby Dick to the very end. 

It can be easy to take for granted that locally organized education in Saucon Valley predates both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, as well as Pennsylvania’s state constitution. To serve on our district board remains an enormous privilege and responsibility with historical resonance. Our Saucon teachers spawn dreams, nurture discoveries, promote human understanding and prepare the next generation to tackle the problems of tomorrow. That this kind of distinction is the first thing parents mention when they’re talking about moving to Saucon should tell you all you need to know. It’s a glittering prize that voters must vigilantly protect.

Bill Broun serves as one of of nine directors of Saucon Valley School Board. He lives in Hellertown and teaches at East Stroudsburg University. He’s a registered independent.