Our Candidates Most Important Reasons for Running for School Board
Updated: Apr 11
The WCASD school board is comprised of nine members, and each brings a unique perspective and skillset to the board.
Our short term mission here at Back to Basics is to get five new faces (Alain, Amanda, Bob, Nick, Peggy) elected to the school board in 2023. But our long term vision is to bring balance to the school board by electing board members who closely align with the ethnic and social demographics of our district, and who also:
are parents of school age children;
represent a variety of political ideologies, ranging from conservative to liberal, with a majority of board members “in the middle”;
focus on academic excellence above all else.
We have worked diligently to find five people -- not only who were willing to run for school board-- but who also, when paired with candidates across all three school board regions, would represent an array of backgrounds, skills, strengths, talents, interests, and passions.
We asked our five candidates why they want to run for a seat on the WCASD school board, and here's what they had to say.
Born and raised in West Chester, three generations of Nick’s family have attended WCASD schools and have graduated from Henderson High School. Nick is eager to use his background in public education--including special ed--as well as his skills gained from working in the insurance industry to ensure that WCASD is a district where the 4th generation of his family--his 4 granddaughters--will choose to attend.
Amanda’s most important reasons for running are to improve safety, increase transparency, and heighten fiscal accountability within the district. She is passionate about these issues, and is heavily invested in the health of WCASD because her own children will be attending WCASD for the next 13 years.
Peggy feels compelled to run for this office because WCASD is in dire need of an overhaul! Academic scores are rapidly declining, transparency on multiple levels is clouded, parental oversight and input is obstructed, fiscal accountability is purposefully confusing, and the school environment is not conducive –and in some cases, not safe– for nurturing young learners. The current school board members are allowing this to happen seemingly without much discussion or pushback. As a Libertarian, Peggy will be an independent thinker, observer, and questioner of the status quo, and she is eager to take on that task!
Bob is tremendously passionate about West Chester and views his role as a future school board member as an excellent way to give back to our community. Having hired thousands of WCASD graduates throughout the course of his career, Bob firmly believes that K12 education is foundational to the success of Pennsylvania, and believes that it’s important for students to have multiple pathways available to them once they leave high school. Now that he is retired, Bob has not only the ability, but also the time that is required to serve as a school board member.
Alain is thrilled at the opportunity to help students achieve their highest potential. He is passionate about equal opportunity for all students, and strongly believes that the district should offer courses at various levels to help maximize each student's individual potential and innate talents. He would like to see more transparency at every level, whether it be in the area of teacher training, library books, within the budget, or in the curriculum. Alain feels that it is crucial to build and maintain trust between parents, teachers and school board.
Each candidate is uniquely equipped to serve our school board, and we invite you to reach out to the candidate(s) in your region to get to know them personally.
