In Southern Lehigh, pledge dominates race for five school board seats
In Southern Lehigh, 10 candidates are running for five school board seats on Nov. 7 in a race dominated by a pledge by the Republican slate to reverse accommodations for transgender students and eliminate “woke politics” from classroom lessons.
Endorsing the pledge are Republicans Paul Deebel, Lance M. Tittle, Danelle Roy, James Pica II and Doug Durham, who was chosen to replace Maria Schantz, who dropped out of the race after winning a spot on the GOP ballot in May.
Their pledge comes four years after four other Republicans, backed by local and outside money, swept the Southern Lehigh School Board race in November 2021 by appealing to parents upset over school closings, mandated masking and learning loss associated with the coronavirus pandemic.
With only one incumbent, Republican Emily Gehman, running for reelection, the Southern Lehigh School Board could see an ideological shift from the election.
Though a Republican, Gehman won on the Democratic ballot on May 16. Also winning on the Democratic ballot were Melissa Torba, the lone Democrat in the race, and Republicans Eric Boyer, Timothy Kearney and Candi Kruse.
Boyer, Kearney, Kruse, Torba and Gehman are being supported by Southern Lehigh Community Partners, a group that is concerned about school capacity, safety, staff retention and class size.
“There are plenty of challenges and opportunities to tackle here in Southern Lehigh, and that should be our primary focus. We should not be fighting national political battles in the school board, at the expense of our students,” the group’s website says.
Deebel, Tittle, Roy, Pica and Durham have been described as “True Republicans” in campaign literature.
They have been endorsed by the Lehigh County Republican Committee, which has endorsed some but not all Republicans running for school board in the county.
Deebel, Tittle, Roy, Pica and Durham also have been endorsed by Southern Lehigh Putting Families First and by the Southern Lehigh Grassroots PAC.
“We are steadfast in preserving liberty and promoting community through a deep reliance on faith-based, Judeo-Christian principles in which our nation was founded, to ensure our government is OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people,” Southern Lehigh Grassroots PAC says on its website.
The 2-½-page pledge supported by the Republican slate is called “My Commitment to the SLSD Community,” and is being promoted by Southern Lehigh Putting Families First and the Southern Lehigh Grassroots PAC.
“These are the principles of our great group of candidates. These are core principles that will make the Southern Lehigh School District a model district for all of Lehigh County,” Southern Lehigh Putting Families said on its Facebook page. The commitment contains six principles:
Making a commitment to focus “first and foremost on advancing academic excellence in SLSD schools,” ensuring students get the attention and resources they need, and deferring to parents and guardians on social, emotional and moral upbringing of their children.
Proposing and voting for a two-year moratorium on tax increases and to use surplus funds first and tax hikes last in addressing budget shortfalls.
Proposing and voting for a neutrality policy to avoid the appearance that the district supports political or social viewpoints and ensure students don’t feel “pressured, coerced or obligated” to support viewpoints they don’t espouse to.
Initiating “a curriculum review process that ensures that woke politics are not introduced or propagated within our schools.”
Proposing and voting to overturn the district’s policy of “hiding gender identity information from parents,” and adopting a resolution that states no district employee would be required to use a name, pronoun, or other identifier that is inconsistent with a student's legal name and biological birth sex.
Voting, at the first board meeting after being sworn in, on a resolution to evaluate alternatives to allowing students to use bathrooms and locker rooms or participate on sports teams that do not align with the student’s biological sex.
At a League of Women Voters forum in September, Durham said an alternative bathroom policy for transgender students would not be pursued unless it was legal, according to an article in The Morning Call and an audience member at the event. Durham did not respond to a Facebook request for an interview.
The Southern Lehigh School District, which has about 3,100 students in five schools, serves Lower Milford Township, Upper Saucon Township and Coopersburg Borough.
In June, the board unanimously passed a $73,751,929 budget that kept the millage rate at 17.2595 mills.
Here is a look at the candidates. Information on the candidates was found on their campaign websites, Facebook pages, Linkedin sites, newspaper articles, board meeting minutes and videos and other sources.
Eric Boyer - R
Endorsed by Southern Lehigh Community Partners
Boyer grew up in Southern Lehigh. He is a parent and baseball coach. He is active in the United Way, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, the East Central PA Two-Cylinder John Deere Tractor Club, and is a member of the Saucon Rail Trail Oversight Commission. His professional experience includes budgeting, contract administration and operations for PPL Electric Utilities.
If elected, Boyer says he will seek ways to improve and maximize use of the district’s facilities, and explore options for offering full-day kindergarten. “I’m running for School Board to address the issues that matter most to community members across the district. We shouldn’t let the loudest voices in the room be the only voices heard,” he said on Facebook. Boyer said he is concerned about the teacher shortage and how it could affect Southern Lehigh. “We can’t afford to lose (teachers), especially in the midst of a teacher shortage. That’s why, as a School Board Director, I commit to working collaboratively with our teachers, administrators, and my fellow Board members to come to common sense solutions to the problems we all seek to solve.”
Paul Deebel - R
Endorsed by Southern Lehigh Putting Families First, Southern Lehigh Grassroots PAC
Paul Deebe is a married father of two district students. He has a chemical engineering degree from Bucknell University and is a sales manager for TE Connectivity – a job he says will help him find solutions and negotiate contracts. Deebel says he understands the need to listen to and consider the needs of all stakeholders. As a husband of a district employee, a parent and a taxpayer, Deebel says he can interpret issues that come before the board from many angles, and says he will be transparent. Deebel ran unsuccessfully for school board in 2021.
In the spring, he laid out his reasons for running, saying, “My goal is to be objective and transparent. I have laid out my objective to restore the focus on advancing academic excellence. I have taken the stance that boys should not be allowed in girls' sports and locker rooms. I have put forth my goal to provide additional resources for special education programs. I have summarized my goals for the upcoming labor contract negotiations with the teachers' union.”
Doug Durham - R
Endorsed by Southern Lehigh Putting Families First, Southern Lehigh Grassroots PAC
Durham is a small business owner and parent who went to Temple University. He is listed as an administrator of the Facebook page of the Southern Lehigh Grassroots PAC, and has served as captain of the Southern Lehigh Republicans. Durham has spoken at school board meetings on transgender policies, parent rights and political signs in the classroom.
In announcing his candidacy, he said, “I am a long time district resident and a small business owner. I have been deeply involved in supporting our community in a number of capacities over the years, working in each case to make our community the best it can be. I have multiple children in the district and have attended over 90% of school board meetings over the past several years. I know the district and I know the issues.”
Regarding his slate, he said, “While I will run with the republican slate of ‘Putting Families First’ candidates, the community has my commitment, first and foremost, that I will listen to viewpoints that differ from my own, weigh the available evidence fairly, and make decisions that I believe will best serve our district. You have my commitment that excellence in education, fiscal responsibility, and transparency, with respect to what the district is doing and why, are at the very top of my list of priorities.”
Emily Gehman - R - Incumbent
Endorsed by Southern Lehigh Community Partners
Gehman is the parent of two district students. She has a degree in accounting and an elementary teaching certificate. Gehman has been employed in public schools in southeastern Pennsylvania and now works as a local business accountant. Besides serving on the board, she volunteers in soccer and musical theater. If reelected, Gehman said she will champion additional ways to create revenue for the district, such as the creation of a charitable giving foundation within the administration to help offset taxes.
Timothy Kearney - R
Endorsed by Southern Lehigh Community Partners
Kearney has a bachelor’s degree from Millersville University and management certificate from DeSales University. He worked as a classroom teacher and building leader for more than 34 years. He says he recognizes the importance of community engagement from his time serving on a school-business partnership committee. He formed a teacher volunteer program that created engagement opportunities for staff. Kearney, who is a parent, said he is committed to fostering communication between parents and teachers, and to increasing mental health resources for students. Kearney ran unsuccessfully for school board in 2021. At the time, he told the League of Women Voters that he was a taxpayer entering retirement and thus supported “a positive climate in a fiscally responsible manner.”
Candi Kruse - R
Endorsed by Southern Lehigh Community Partners
Candi Kruse is a married mother of two children. She has a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Chicago and an MBA from DeSales University. Kruse works at Victaulic as manager of commercial and legal affairs, a job that she says has prepared her to hold the district accountable. She is a volunteer in The Literacy Center, Women United, and the Southern Lehigh Public Library, where she serves on the board. She also teaches Sunday school. Kruse says she is committed to ensuring a quality education for every child.
James Pica II - R
Endorsed by Southern Lehigh Putting Families First, Southern Lehigh Grassroots PAC
Pica is a married father of two district students. He has a bachelor’s degree in athletic training and sports medicine from East Stroudsburg University. Pica says he is a practical and objective problem solver. He values honesty and transparency, and says fiscal responsibility, the protection of family rights, and educational excellence are all equally important. On Facebook, he encouraged people to attend the March 27 school board meeting, where a spillover crowd showed up to talk about a transgender bathroom policy, which was not an agenda item. “Please consider showing up and supporting keeping the sexes separated in these spaces and helping to keep our kids from being sexualized in the false teachings promoting transgender lifestyles,” the post said. On Facebook, he said, one of his goals is “to make sure the budget pays our teachers and subs even better than they currently are.”
Danelle Roy - R
Endorsed by Southern Lehigh Putting Families First, Southern Lehigh Grassroots PAC
Roy served in the Army for 14 years. She is a married mother of three sons, two of whom are in the military. She went to Allen High School and works at St. Luke’s University Health Network as a technical coordinator for chemistry at the Anderson Campus. She said her duties – which include writing network procedures, training students and other personnel, performing competency assessments, establishing quality control measures and troubleshooting – will serve her as a school director. She believes in performance improvement and fiscal responsibility. Roy says schools need to be a safe place for all children. She also said parents have the right to know what their children are being taught.
Lance M. Tittle - R
Endorsed by Southern Lehigh Putting Families First, Southern Lehigh Grassroots PAC
Tittle is a former board chairman and auditor for Lower Milford Township. He served in the Air Force and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Tittle was a founding partner and president of Fabricated Alloy Products Inc. in East Greenville, retiring in 2013 to care for his wife Linda, who died in 2017 from Alzheimer’s disease. He is active in a number of community organizations and served as treasurer of Perkiomen Valley Trout Unlimited.
Melissa Torba - D
Endorsed by Southern Lehigh Community Partners
Torba has worked in the education field for 25 years, most recently at OnCourse Systems for Education. She has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and psychology from Moravian University. She volunteers as travel director for Southern Lehigh Soccer. She was an assistant women’s basketball coach at Moravian and Muhlenberg colleges for seven years at each school. Torba ran unsuccessfully for school board in 2021. Through her work experience, Torba says, “I have a deep understanding of the importance of quality education in shaping the lives of our students. I am committed to ensuring that our schools provide a comprehensive education that prepares students for success.”