Bensalem, Pennridge school boards not-so-lame duck sessions end on controversial notes

The weeks between a municipal election and a school board’s reorganization meeting in the first week of December usually makes for a quiet lame duck session.

While a Nov. 14 board meeting in Central Bucks dominated headlines over a handful of votes for an outgoing board, those stories overshadowed some other outgoing boards wanting to end with a loud quack of their own.

The state’s constitution requires elections to be held on the first Tuesday following the first Monday of November and Pennsylvania’s Public School Code of 1949 requires that the school board hold its annual organization meeting during “the first week of December.”

Most school districts in Bucks County have meeting dates on or after the second Tuesday of the month, almost guaranteeing at least one lame duck meeting between Election Day and the reorganization meeting.

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Those meetings usually include general school business, like paying repeat expenses or approving staff workshops.

After the Republicans had sweeping school board victories in Central Bucks and Pennridge in 2021, the lame duck meetings were basically a public forum of congratulations and comments on school reforms that voters expected from the incoming boards.

This year, votes over contracts and an open board seat in Pennridge and Bensalem were met with objections from the public and some officials who wanted those decisions held over until their respective new boards were seated.

Here’s some of what you might have missed in the last few weeks.

Pennridge cuts ties with Vermilion

The former Pennridge school board voted to end work with a controversial curriculum consultant on Nov. 27. The contract with Vermilion Education approved by the former board in April has long been a controversial topic in Pennridge.

A 5-4 vote hiring Vermilion CEO Jordan Adams at $125 an hour for "assisting district staff in reviewing and developing curricula" was preceded by a deluge of complaints from both sides of the dais during the Apirl 26 board meeting.

A few board members, including Democrat Ron Wurz, complained that they had only been given a copy of the contract less than 24 hours before the vote, and residents had concerns over Adams' experience and previous employment with the conservative Hillsdale College.

The Michigan-based Vermilion was created just four months prior to the vote and Adam's ties to Hillsdale invoked concerns over the Christian school's 1776 curriculum — an American history, civics and government course — would be used to create a "politically bias" lesson plan.

Adams had the support of a five-member bloc on Pennridge's former school board who said the district had been trying for two years to redevelop the civics curriculum with little success.

"There's no secrecy. There's no lack of transparency," board member Ricki Chaiken said in April. "Our end goal is that every single kid that leaves Pennridge loves this country and understands their consitution. Right now, that's not happening."

There did not appear to be any set end date for Vermilion's consulting, though Chaiken had said in April the idea was to have curriculum changes ready for the "next school year," which would have been 2023-2024.

While there was a vote to implement curriculum changes in Pennridge, that didn't come to a vote until hours after the end of the first day of school on Aug. 28.

That meeting only seemed to fuel outrage that the district was approving a "partially completed" curriculum while Vermilion's supporters on the board said the changes encouraged "critical thinking" among students.

The board went on to pass several reading lesson changes for seventh and eighth grade reading classes in a 5-4 vote that night.

There was a second 5-4 vote putting in a social studies curriculum for grades 1-5 and ninth grade, but that motion was amended to approve the changes now and implement them next school year. The delay was to give teachers time to review and plan how to introduce the new courses.

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The decision to hire Vermilion and the resulting changes made in August have been cited as the main reason Democrats were able to make a historic sweep of the board this year.

Even though the incoming board was likely going to end the contract with Vermilion as soon as possible, the previous board's decision to "conclude the contract" was panned by Vermilion's critics as a way for Vermilion and Adams to save face.

Republican Joan Cullen, who did not seek re-election this year, abstained from the vote to terminate Vermilion's contract because she felt the motion shouldn't have included a 15-page report authored by Adams summarizing the work done in Pennridge.

The motion on the table approved ending the contract, accepting the report and paying the final $4,937.50 for work performed between Nov. 1 and Nov. 24.

“The main thing he did was blow up our ninth grade social studies course, and you read this 15-page report and … it’s not even mentioned in his report,” Cullen said. “This is the biggest grift. Congratulations to him for managing to fool five of you people, but I’m not going to be fooled.”

Board member Jordan Blomgren defended Vermilion and accused Cullen of “selective outrage” over one specific contractor.

“You say, ‘it’s embarrassing,’ and what I find embarrassing is on many accounts from many people in the room that have ever commented on Vermilion … we have spent so much money on previous consultants. There was never the same outrage, never questioning it at all,” Blomgren said.

Board member Ron Wurz, the former board’s only Democrat who won re-election last month, said he agreed with Cullen and wouldn’t vote for the motion but was glad to “move on” from the issue.

The vote passed with a 4-1 vote in favor — Chaikin the lone dissenter — and four members abstaining, with members Christine Batycki and Jonathan Russell not voting alongside Cullen and Wurz.

At the board’s Dec. 4 reorganization meeting, Wurz, now the board’s president, told the audience that faculty- and administration-led curriculum changes were a top priority in the coming months.

Bensalem Republican swaps seats

Only one of three Republican incumbents for the Bensalem Township school board won re-election in November, but that didn’t stop outgoing member Marc Cohen from securing two more years on the board last month.

Cohen, who has served two full terms on the board, fell 79 votes shy of coming in the top five candidates who won the district’s at-large race.

Fellow Republican Jack Meyer announced after the election that he would be resigning to care for his aging parents, which prompted Cohen to resign his seat.

“Having learned of (Meyer's) need to step down from his duties as a school director, I would like to be considered to fill out the unexpired portion of Jack's term,” Cohen wrote in a Nov. 22 email. Cohen added in that email that he was resigning immediately in order to be eligible for the appointment under the Pennsylvania School Code in time for the Nov. 28 board meeting.

The state law for who can serve on a board has few requirements: any resident who has lived in the district for one year prior to their appointment, isn’t a district employee and doesn't already hold an elected office can join the board.

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There were two others who threw their name in for Meyer’s seat, though one person was a district employee and had to be disqualified before the previous board’s final meeting.

Joe Wenzel, a construction manager and 25-year township resident, was the only other person to go for Meyer’s seat. Wenzel said voters rebuked Cohen and that “there should be a different voice” on the board.

“This past month, we did have an election and the body spoke and, you know, the events that are happening right now are a little unsettling to me,” Wenzel said.

There was one other person who applied to replace Meyer, but he was disqualified before the meeting as he currently works for the district.

Cohen will be up for re-election in 2025.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Pennridge, Bensalem school boards cast tense final votes