Alumni Condemn Central Bucks Board For "Discriminatory" Policies

DOYLESTOWN, PA — More than 800 alumni from the Central Bucks School District have signed an open letter to the school board condemning its passage of what it calls "discriminatory and dangerous" policies over the past year.

Those policies, said the alumni, include a new materials policy, which they say establishes the strictest library book ban in the state, and the approval of Policy 321, which they say bans teachers from discussing “partisan, political, or social policy matters'' in schools and from displaying any symbols that might be considered political, including pride flags.

The letter is penned by Christina Maida (Class of 2010) and Rotimi Adeoye (Class of 2014) and signed by alumni ranging from the Class of 1959 to the Class of 2022.

"We see what is going on in the district and are very upset by it. I wanted to rally all my support for the current students and to condemn the board's policies," said Maida, who graduated from Central Bucks in 2010, moved away for 10 years but has since moved back to the district to raise her family. "It's very important to me that we fix the reputation of the Central Bucks School District and return it back to the great schools that I went to growing up."

Maida, who has become a frequent school board meeting attendee, said "it's sad to hear the district's alumni saying things like, 'I'm glad my kids don't go to school here' or they are going to move away before their kids become school age. That really saddens me for someone who just recently moved back to her hometown."

The letter includes the names and class years of every signer of the petition. It also includes an attachment containing pages of anonymous comments made by the signers.

"This is our way of supporting current students and to voice our opinion about what's going on in the district we graduated from," said Maida. "I can't image what the students and teachers are going through. They must feel really stifled right now," she said.

In the letter, the alumni say schools should be a "welcoming and nurturing environment for all students. Schools should also be a marketplace of ideas that challenge students to grow and flourish their intellect. But your recent actions dramatically undermine both of those goals."

The school board majority has stood behind its actions, arguing that it has been working to refocus the classroom back to the job of education.

Board president Dana Hunter defended Policy 321 in January, arguing that it is not a prohibition on topics of speech but designed to promote education instead of indoctrination or endorsement of partisan, political or social policy matters.

"In an analogous context, the district has long educated students about world religions but cannot endorse a particular religion. When implementing and enforcing Policy 321, district employees, the superintendent and principals may be guided by that existing and familiar non-endorsement principle," said Hunter.

The board president has also denied claims that the policy bans flags and classroom discussions.

"Policy 321 does not ban, for example, pride flags, pro-life flags, Biden flags, or Trump flags as is being alleged. Instead, it simply limits their use to when it is related to the day’s curricular lessons," she said. "This is no different than how our schools would permit flags of religions when teaching about comparative religion, but would obviously not permit a teacher to hang a religious flag on the wall year round."

Maida said she doesn't expect to hear back from the board, but she does plan on attending school board meetings to continue voicing her objections.

The following is a copy of the letter that was sent to the school board:

The following is a sampling of some of the comments the alumni made when they signed onto the letter: