Miller Speaks Out Over School Board Resignation

Chris Miller, who resigned from the Nazareth Area School Board earlier this week—the day after leaving a board meeting in midstream—admits that “to some degree” he already had been thinking about resigning.

Miller told Nazareth Patch in a phone interview Tuesday he was feeling he could no longer serve on the board because of his opposition to the state’s proposed Common Core standards and his feeling that the school district is wasting taxpayers’ money, mostly because of state intervention.

The retired history teacher in the Bethlehem school district—and the proud alumnus of what he describes as a one-room schoolhouse in Bushkill Township—also said it wasn’t easy being the only board member with publicly expressed conservative views.

So what was it about Monday's board meeting that put him over the edge?

He was “disgusted” that the board broke from its meeting to watch several student presentations in the nearby gym. Miller was present for the part of the meeting before the gym presentations.

He said he has long felt the board “should stick to its business,” perhaps scheduling student presentations after agenda items are completed.

”Three or four presentations are wasting the time of taxpayers. I said ‘enough is enough’ and I left.” He called the incident "the last call."

The result: He wasn’t at his seat when the board reconvened its meeting. His unannounced departure was sharply criticized by several board members.

Darrell Crook called Miller’s disappearance “an insult” to the board “and our kids.”

Board president Lorin Bradley said of Miller, “I don’t think he has the best interest of the district at heart” and that Miller’s actions “continued to alienate [him] from the rest of the board.”

(The school board has scheduled a special meeting for 6pm Tuesday [May 28] to discuss how to fill Miller’s seat, according to superintendent Dennis Riker. Miller's term expires at the end of 2015.)

In the phone interview, Miller said he wanted to clarify another incident from Monday night.

He said that before the gym programs, he spoke in a hallway with second-grade teacher April Silimperi, who led a presentation during the first part of the board meeting on a digital history project.

The second-graders did research on famous people and portrayed the people in individual videos. Two of the students – portraying Underground Railroad leader Harriet Tubman and Elvis Presley – made presentations at the board meeting.

Silimperi said the digital project reflected Common Core standards. One of them is having students use multimedia components in projects.

Miller said he told Silimperi in the hallway that none of the nation’s Founding Fathers were on a list of people portrayed by the students. He said Silimperi told him she would include the Founding Fathers in future programs. End of conversation, Miller said.

But the conversation was described quite differently Monday night by board president Bradley. He said he did not witness it but was told by several people who did that Miller confronted the teacher and criticized her for using taxpayers money on the project.

Bradley reacted angrily after the meeting about the “confrontation.” He said he was not against Miller expressing opposing views but that the proper forum for those views are board and committee meetings.

Patch sent an email to Silimperi on Tuesday but she did not immediately respond.

Also in the phone interview, Miller made the following points:

• His opposition to Common Core is centered on what he believes will be the high cost to taxpayers. “It’s all about people making money,” he said. He criticized a textbook publisher who stands to make “a gazillion dollars” from Common Core. He also criticized computer magnate and philanthropist Bill Gates for the money he stands to make from Common Core for his Microsoft enterprises. “I don’t [be]grudge a man for making money. I begrudge him for pulling a fast one on me,” Miller said.

• He praised Nazareth’s administrators and teachers, saying they do a “fantastic job” in an educational environment more difficult than when he was a teacher.

• He said he will be back in the board’s meeting room – this time as a taxpayer who will “fight to keep Common Core out and to lower taxes.”