Jarrett Coleman to remain on Parkland School Board while serving in 16th Senate District
Coleman’s decision to serve two elected positions is not unprecedented
Jarrett Coleman, who was elected state senator in the 16th District last month, will remain a member of the Parkland School Board when he is sworn in on Jan. 3.
Parkland confirmed this week that Coleman, a Republican from Upper Macungie, researched the legality of serving dual elected positions and found he could do so. Coleman would not respond to a request for comment.
Two other new Harrisburg lawmakers from the Lehigh Valley will not remain in their local elected positions.
Joshua Siegel, a Democrat elected to the 22nd House District, attended his last meeting as an Allentown City Council member on Nov. 30.
Nick Miller, a Democrat elected to the 14th Senate District, is resigning from his post as an Allentown School Board member.
Both had a year left on their four-year terms and would have been up for re--election in 2023.
In November 2021, Coleman was elected to the Parkland School Board, which serves Upper Macungie, South Whitehall, North Whitehall and a small portion of Allentown. He ran on a platform opposing the district’s mandated mask policy, which was in effect during the height of the coronavirus and had angered many parents.
In May, he ran against longtime incumbent Sen. Pat Browne, defeating him by 24 votes in the primary. Coleman then bested Democrat Mark Pinsley in the Nov. 8 election by nearly 12,000 votes. The 16th District covers portions of western Lehigh County and upper Bucks County.
Coleman’s decision to serve two elected positions is not unprecedented.
State Rep. Mike Jones, a Republican who represents District 93 in central Pennsylvania, had been a member of the Dallastown School Board when he was first elected as a state representative in 2018.
Jones remained on the board then resigned in September 2019, saying “I think it’s the right thing to do,” according to the York Dispatch.
The York Dispatch quoted Jones as saying he felt there could be a conflict of interest because of the multiple municipalities and school districts in the 93rd.
Coleman has been a fiscal watchdog while on the school board.
According to the Lehigh Valley Press, he voted against the district’s 2022-23 budget, which contained a tax hike, as well as budgets for Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, Lehigh Carbon Community College and Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21.
He voted against approving the annual 0.1 mill tax for the Parkland Community Library. He was a no vote on approving architectural and construction contracts for the district’s new operations center and, according to Lehigh Valley News, voted against buying a new $80,000 LED scoreboard for the pool.
On Nov. 2, 2021, the day he was elected to the school board, Coleman filed a lawsuit against the Parkland School Board in Lehigh County Court, court records show.
Coleman’s suit alleged board members violated the Sunshine Act when they voted in favor of a new contract with the Parkland Education Association on Oct. 26, 2021, even though the vote was not on the original agenda.
The district said the timing of the union vote in favor of the contract created a situation where the board’s vote could not have been added ahead of time on the agenda.
The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act requires that meetings where official action is planned must have prior notice so the public can attend, participate and comment before action is taken.
Coleman later filed a second lawsuit after the board voted again on the contract on Nov. 16, 2021, to satisfy the Sunshine Law. In his lawsuit, Coleman, who had not been sworn into his seat on the board, said he was not permitted to offer public comment on the new vote in violation of the law.
To make his case, Coleman intended to subpoena all nine members of the school board.
Last month, on Nov. 17, Lehigh County President Judge J. Brian Johnson ruled in favor of the school district regarding the Oct. 26, 2021, vote. The decision was first reported by Lehigh Valley News.
In addition, court records show, Johnson found that there was a “genuine issue of material fact” regarding the second lawsuit. On Nov. 18, Coleman’s lawyer J. Chadwick Schnee asked that the case be discontinued.