Central Bucks board set to reorganize. What to expect Monday

Chris Ullery, Jo Ciavaglia and Wenjing Ding, Bucks County Courier Times
Updated ·4 min read
The Central Bucks Board Reorganization Meeting will be next Monday Dec.4
The Central Bucks Board Reorganization Meeting will be next Monday Dec.4

The Central Bucks School District is scheduled to reorganize Monday, an annual process that allows for the transfer of power from one governing body to the next.

These are usually sleepy affairs with little fanfare, but Central Bucks has been a district embroiled in turmoil since the COVID-19 pandemic and a recent Democrat sweep at the Nov. 7 elections will make this meeting one to watch

Here's what you need to know:

An estimated 300 people attended the Nov. 14, 2023 Central Bucks School Board meeting, the last for the outgoing GOP-majority lead school board
An estimated 300 people attended the Nov. 14, 2023 Central Bucks School Board meeting, the last for the outgoing GOP-majority lead school board

When is the Central Bucks School Board reorganization?

The board is set to meet Monday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. in the Educational Services Center at 16 Welden Drive in Doylestown. While the board's most recent public meeting two weeks ago was moved to a larger venue due to an anticipated large crowd, there has been no change posted for the upcoming meeting as of Thursday afternoon.

The meeting will also be live-streamed on the district's website.

The reorganization meeting will actually be the first of two meetings that night.

First, the reorganization meeting will see the swearing in of the new board members,Dana Foley, Heather Reynolds, Susan Gibson, Rick Haring and incumbent Karen Smith, who won the November election. A court-ordered recount on Friday re-affirmed Foley, Reynolds and Smith easily won their respective races in Regions 1, 2 and 3.

After the new members are sworn, the board will elect leadership, and likely appoint some outside professionals, like a solicitor to represent the board.

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Recent CB news: Outgoing GOP board gives Central Bucks superintendent $700k severance as public cries foul

Who sets the agenda for the CB meeting?

The current GOP-majority board is still in power and controls the agenda setting until the new board is sworn in. As of Friday, the meeting agenda had not been posted online.

State law requires that the board post the agenda at least 24 hours before any public voting meeting.

Smith said Thursday night she was informed by Acting Superintendent Charles Malone that several agenda items requested by herself and the incoming board members will not be on Monday's agenda.

Smith said that the incoming board "will have no other recourse than to make a motion to amend the agenda during the meeting."

What could change under the new board?

At the top of the list of the expected additions to Monday's agenda: A new solicitor.

Longtime solicitor Jeff Garton announced his plans to resign last month after the election. Garton said Thursday he will not attend the Monday meeting.

Smith said attorney David Conn, a partner at Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams LLP, will likely be named as the board's new solicitor.

Three of the most controversial policies passed by the outgoing board will be kicked back to committee for review, including a controversial library policy passed in 2022 and an athletics policy restricting which teams transgender athletes can play on that passed two weeks ago during the current board's November lame-duck session.

A busy lame duck session in CBSD: On way out, GOP majority on Central Bucks board OKs voting appeal and trans athlete policy

Smith said the new board will also add a motion dropping an appeal over a new voting map that will split the district into three voting regions in 2025. The vote to appeal also took place at the November meeting.

Finally, the board will also take the first steps to challenge the legality of a severance package of more than $700,000 the current board awarded to former Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh at the Nov. 14 meeting.

Lucabaugh's golden parachute, set aloft by the outgoing board, has drawn national headlines and could top a lengthy list of controversies that have pervaded Central Bucks.

The incoming board has also signaled that it will end a previous policy that limited public comment to 90 minutes to two hours at each meeting, and place residents who did not get a chance to speak at the top of the list for the next month's meeting.

The new board majority wants to allow all residents who attend a meeting and wish to address the board the opportunity to do so, Smith said.

More: Here are the priorities for newly elected Democrats in Central Bucks and Pennridge

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Central Bucks board Reorganization meeting set. What you need to know