Nazareth School Board Names New Member

Written by Jack Tobias

History is repeating itself on the Nazareth Area School Board.

Board members Monday night selected 20-year-old Jacob Allen to fill the vacancy left by last month’s resignation of Chris Miller. Allen’s term will expire after this November’s election.

The board did the same thing two years ago, just weeks after Allen graduated from Nazareth High School. It selected him to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of John Marino.

But in November 2011, Allen fell short in his bid to stay on the board as a representative from the school district’s Region 1. He lost to current board president Lorin Bradley.

Allen said he plans to do what he did in 2011 – run in the November election.

On Monday night, Allen -- a Bushkill Township resident and currently a student at Northampton Community College -- defeated another Bushkill resident, Joseph Vasko, 65, who was the only other candidate for the temporary seat.

The board voted 4-3 in favor of Allen.

Voting for Allen were Kenneth Butz Jr., Maurice Heller, Jerry Treon and board vice president Linda McDonald.

Voting for Vasko were Bradley, Darrell Crook and Dominic Villani. Board member Robert Pinel was absent.

After the meeting, Bradley came up to Allen and shook his hand.

”It’s good to be back,” Allen told him.

Region 1 is made up of Bushkill Township, Tatamy and a portion of Palmer Township.

Allen got his second chance to serve on the board when Miller resigned the day after walking out of the board’s May 20 meeting while it was still in progress.

In an interview with Patch after his resignation, Miller said he already had been thinking about resigning before walking out of the meeting.

He cited his opposition to the state’s proposed Common Core standards and his feeling that taxpayers’ money is being wasted, mostly because of state intervention. He also said it wasn’t easy being what he called the board’s lone conservative voice.

He said the May 20 incident that put him over the edge was when 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.

In the interview, Miller also explained what happened when 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.

Miller said he told Silimperi 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.

But board president Bradley, speaking after the meeting, described the conversation quite differently. 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.

Asked about Miller’s tenure on the board, Allen said he would have liked to see Miller finish his term, which expires at the end of 2015. But Allen said he understands the issues that drove Miller to resign.

He said he agreed with Miller’s focus on the board being a financial watchdog in its relationship with the administration. But he also said he disagreed with some of Miller’s views and added, “I have my own opinions.”

In a question-and-answer session with board members, Allen said he got interested in how the school board works, especially the budgetary process, in 2008, when the board approved a tax increase. He said he has been coming to board meetings regularly since then.

He also pointed out that contracts for teachers and support stuff will be expiring in the next two years. “I know that’s going to be interesting,” he told the board.

Vasko, meanwhile, reviewed his background in engineering and sales management and pointed out he had been Bushkill Township’s emergency management coordinator. He said he has been interested in being a school board member for some time and now has the time to commit to it.

He also reminded the board that his wife is a school district employee – he later said she is a secretary. He said he did not think that constituted a conflict of interest.

Superintendent Dennis Riker noted that Allen and Vasko previously answered a series of questions and that board members reviewed the answers before Monday night’s meeting.