Central Bucks School Board Primary Election: Karen Smith, Region 1

Candidates running in contested races in the May 16 primary election have been invited to provide background about themselves and their positions on the issues to voters in these profiles, which will run in Patch individually for each candidate.

BUCKS COUNTY, PA — Karen Smith is running as a cross-filed candidate for an open four-year-seat on the Central Bucks School Board in Region 1. She is in two-way race with Stephen Mass.

Biographical Information

Name: Karen Smith

Age: 52

Town of residence: New Britain Township

Position sought: CBSD School Board Director Region 1

Are you an incumbent? yes

What Towns Does Your Position Cover? New Britain Borough, parts of New Britain Township, Parts of Plumstead Township and parts of Buckingham Township

Party affiliation: Democrat

Family: Married with three children

Education: B.S. degree in communications from Syracuse University

Occupation: School Public Relations

Questions

1. Why are you running?

I have worked for and with public schools for twenty years and I am serving my second term on the School Board. My professional background is in school public relations. School districts are subject to many laws and regulations which complicate our work. My experience allows me to immediately make decisions for the district with no learning curve needed.

My background does make me uniquely qualified for the office, but I am also a parent, and a parent of a child with special needs. My three children all attended Central Bucks schools from kindergarten through graduation. My youngest son attended MBIT and I served on the MBIT Board, so I am very familiar with our tech school as well.

I am running again because I love our public schools. I have spent my life working for public schools. I want to have another opportunity to work on creating the best education for our children instead of battling in political games.

I am running again because our students deserve better. Our students need school board members who value and respect them, who want to help them learn, help them feel competent and capable, and safe and welcome.

The students have stood in front of me and asked for it. I won’t let them down.

2. What are your top issues and how do you plan to address them?

Here in Central Bucks, we have been in the news all too often recently, and for all the wrong reasons. The current Board majority enacted several poor policies and has wasted a million dollars defending their untenable position. Banning books and supportive symbols is wrong and does nothing to address the real issues our district needs to confront. This is the overall challenge we face.

Next, like many districts we are facing teacher and staff shortages. I do think the chaos in the district over the past couple of years has impacted our ability to attract and retain staff. Stability at the board level will help the situation as well as a review of salary rates.

I also remain very concerned about mental health issues for our students. We have more students dealing with anxiety and depression than ever before and referring to community resources is not helping our students quickly enough. We need to add therapeutic counselors and additional social workers to be able to help kids while they are in school.

Finally, we have some students still demonstrating learning loss after the pandemic. Our administration has some ideas to assist with this, but I would encourage them to look for additional options as well.

3. Identify specific goals/ideas you have to enhance the district?

I remain very concerned about mental health issues for our students. We have more students dealing with anxiety and depression than ever before and referring to community resources is not helping our students quickly enough. We need to add therapeutic counselors and additional social workers to be able to help kids in school. Having the support available in school means we are able to reach all students who need it, and when they need it. I remember my own son having an issue in school and no one was available to help when he needed it.

We have some students still demonstrating some learning loss after the pandemic. Our administration has some ideas to assist with this but I would encourage them to look for additional options as well.

I would work to revise the library book policy and policy 321. The policies are discriminatory, were devised to solve problems that did not exist, have created extensive negative attention for the district and have damaged relationships with our stakeholders particularly our staff.

Overall, my main goal would be to return to a focus on education, doing good things for kids and let’s make school board meetings boring again!