For the second time in four months, two more directors have resigned from the Susquenita School Board saying infighting has become problematic to the point the board is putting students second, according to letters and emails.
Directors Brenda Myers and Heather Rudy resigned in early December, according to the board’s new President Phillip Lehman. He returned to the post during the school board reorganization on Dec. 2.
Myers’ and Rudy’s resignations were not on the December meeting’s agenda that’s posted on the district website. Lehman said the resignations were accepted on Dec. 3 but declined to say what reasons the women gave for resigning.
“It is my opinion that the board no longer serves the best interests of the students and staff and I cannot find my way to serving on a board where this is no longer happening,” Myers said in her resignation letter dated Dec. 3. “Over the past several months, it seems to me that certain members of the board are more interested in what they want and not what is best for our students and staff. I have never been more embarrassed as I have been at the last couple of board meetings.”
Myers represented the district’s second region that includes Penn and Wheatfield townships. She was re-elected to the position in 2017 and had served on the board for 12 years. Her most recent term would’ve expired at the end of 2021.
In a lengthy email answering the newspaper’s questions, Rudy too said there had been a breakdown in cooperation and respect on the board. She decided she could no longer endure that environment.
“Before this pandemic I truly felt so good about our board and what we were doing,” Rudy said. “While we are all extremely different from each other in every way, from level of education, ages of our children, socio-economic and personality-wise...somehow, it worked. Unfortunately, none of that was able to carry us through this pandemic and shined an extremely bright light on each of us as actual humans and because of that, FOUR members of this board felt they had to step down in order to protect our personal peace.”
Some board members became entrenched with “being right” and “winning” in whatever discussions were on the table, Rudy wrote. It led to “a complete breakdown of respect, boundaries and truthfulness,” she wrote. She had enough and decided it was time to leave.
In the end, Rudy said that environment was impacting the school’s quality, too. She said the way the board was treating teachers, administrators and other support staff was detrimental and causing some quality educators to leave the district.
Rudy implored residents seeking appointments to the board to think long and hard about why they wanted to be on the board and how they would change that environment.
Rudy represented the third region that included Duncannon and New Buffalo, and Watts and Reed townships. She too was re-elected to another term in 2017, which would expire at the end of 2021, and was on the board for five years after herself being appointed to fill a vacancy. She originally wanted to run for re-election, but has decided against it.
Neither Rudy nor Myers gave names of those they thought were most responsible for the problems. Rudy said she didn’t want to continue the problems.
The board planned to interview residents interested in the seats and appoint replacements in a special meeting on Dec. 17, but that meeting has been rescheduled to Dec. 22, according to the district website. Due to rising Covid cases, the public can join that meeting via zoom.
This is the second time two board members resigned since September. Stephanie Dorman resigned Sept. 9. She also represented Region 3. Leanne Eichelberger resigned Oct. 5. Eichelberger said she did not intend for her tenure to be so short but she had to resign for personal reasons. She was elected in 2019 to represent Region 1 that includes Marysville and Rye Twp.
Dorman said she resigned after becoming disgusted with infighting among school board members and alleged misinformation to the public. She said that included at least one incident where a board member’s child was used against their parent. She declined to give names for the incidents, but said she no longer wanted to be a part of it.
Dorman, a 2000 alumni of Susquenita, remains active with the district, including on the board for its newly formed Susquenita Blackhawk Foundation.
The school board appointed two residents to the vacancies in November. It appointed Marci Walborn of Rye Twp. to the Region 1 opening and Robert Carmo of Watts Twp. to the Region 3 seat. Their first board meeting was on Dec. 2.
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Two more Susquenita School Board members resign, cite infighting - PennLive
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