Central Bucks School Board member should apologize — or resign | Opinion
The Central Bucks School District has made the news again. Several months have passed since the law firm of Duane Morris issued their 151-page investigation into allegations of bullying in Central Bucks schools, but the aftershocks continue to ripple. Once again, board member Karen Smith is at the center of the chaos and strife, a fact that should surprise no one who has even casually followed recent events
The report painted an unflattering portrait of Smith. It demonstrated that Smith had contacted the Office of Civil Rights requesting the federal government help her in her “fight” for LGBTQ students in the “hostile environment” of Central Bucks. This was done without the knowledge of the board and, as it turns out, without any facts to back up the accusations. Her actions were reckless; her accusations baseless. As a result, the names of good, caring teachers and principals were sullied.
The Duane Morris report used hundreds of emails and sworn testimony to reach its conclusions. When faced with facts, there are really only two reasonable choices of action: Apologize for past behavior and try to make amends, or dispute the facts. Smith has done neither. Rather she has tried to rewrite history in a way that should disqualify her from any position of authority. In a June 11 interview with The Intelligencer, Smith states that she would like to clear her name. She claims that she did not initiate the federal complaint that has cost the district so much time, money and animosity. To justify these claims she has had to obscure the facts, and point fingers elsewhere. Let’s take a look at the facts, and let the readers decide for themselves.
The article states that “Smith has denied that the email was a request for the OCR to open an investigation.” Smith’s email is available in the public record, which makes her claim all the more unbelievable. She writes to OCR saying: “I would appreciate any help your office would give me in fighting these issues for our LGBTQ students and other marginalized communities.” The perpetrators Smith names are “The Superintendent and the majority of our school board.” In the same email she lists four other grievances. These words are direct quotes from her email. They are nothing if not an invitation to open an investigation. Indeed the OCR certainly took it as such, launching an investigation and assigning it an official docket number.
In the same email Smith also confides that, “The ACLU of Pennsylvania is also investigating the district.” She also lists, as one of her four grievances, that the district suspended “… an exemplary teacher for protecting a transgender student.” The teacher in question is Andrew Burgess. Burgess, a former teacher at Lenape Middle School, was approached by a vulnerable child who described being bullied by other students. Burgess was indeed suspended, as Smith describes in her email, but not for protecting the student, but for the opposite. Under sworn testimony Burgess admitted to not only failing to report the incident, as required by policy, but to discouraging the student and their mother from reporting as well. By taking Burgess' side in her complaint to the OCR, Smith behaves carelessly and maliciously.
The Intelligencerquotes Smith as saying, “I would like us to focus on making the positive changes for the marginalized groups of students the ACLU and OCR investigations are concerned with.” I could point out that Smith advocates exclusively for an ideology, but never a particular curriculum change or strategy for learning. But let’s examine the claim of “making positive changes” for “marginalized groups.” The ACLU has been tasked to examine the claims of 7 students who report bullying. The names of these students, and the details of the incidents in question, have never been confidentially given to the administration. Therefore, the teachers, principals and counselors who ought to be involved have no ability to enact change. Are these students still at risk for harm? Are those students accused of doing the bullying, still free to do harm? And are they tormenting other students as well? It is a bit unfair to accuse the administration of fostering a hostile environment without allowing them to properly investigate.
More: Does letter refute allegations CBSD board member instigated discrimination investigation?
Another quote from Smith, this time in an editorial she wrote for the Bucks County Herald: “Recently, that politically motivated law firm released its 'report,' which was not only full of misinformation but identified vulnerable students and attacked teachers … .” Smith claims that the report identifies vulnerable students. This is an outright lie. No student was named nor has anyone asked the students to be named publicly. But if we want to “make the positive changes,” and we all do, then the administration must be empowered with knowledge of where to start.
Several months ago, I publicly called on Smith to apologize for her antics. I again ask her to do so, and to stop spreading chaos in our district. Or if that is too difficult, we would all gladly accept a resignation.
Stephen Mass, M.D. is a surgeon in the Doylestown area, who is father of three Central Bucks grads and is running for the Central Bucks School District in region 1.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Central Bucks School Board member should apologize — or resign
