Election 2023: Democrat Rick Haring For Central Bucks School Board

Candidates running in the Nov. 7 general election are providing background about themselves and their positions on the issues to voters in these profiles, which will run in Patch individually for each candidate.

CENTRAL BUCKS SCHOOL DISTRICT — Democrat Rick Haring is seeking election to a four-year seat on the Central Bucks School Board. Two candidates are vying for two open seats in the General Election. They are Democrat Rick Haring and Republican Aarati Martino.

Biographical Information

Name: Rick Haring
Age: 48
Town of residence: Doylestown Twp
Position sought: School Board Director - Region 6
Are you an incumbent? No
What Towns Does Your Position Cover? Doylestown Twp
Party affiliation: Democrat
Family: Wife, Rebecca Cartee-Haring (English Teacher at CB West), Daughter, Emma (Senior at Towson University), Daughter, Margot (Freshman at University of Alabama Huntsville) & 4 dogs (Mojo, Booker, Wilbur and Bing-Bong).
Education: BS, Economics from Rutgers University. MBA, Marketing from Villanova University
Occupation: Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications at International SOS

Questions

1. Why are you running?

My childhood growing up was not the best. I was raised by a single mom. Father was an alcoholic and not present at all. So school for me was not just a place for education and intellectual curiosity, but it filled a gap. I really wish that all kids in CB were getting the support they need at home, whether it’s 3 meals a day, a bed to sleep in, or a safe place to go home to.

I hope we can all agree, that’s the ideal. But the thing is, schools need to be there for kids when they’re not getting that at home — our schools should fill that gap. For a lot of kids, school is maybe the only place they feel safe and nurtured and understood.

That’s what our schools in CB have done, that’s why they were great… until we started creating policies that disrupt how we operate and sending messages to our teachers & support staff that they are no longer trusted or capable of doing their jobs and providing this to students without fear. That needs to change.

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

The four biggest issues are:

• Lack of civility among board members. It has been clear to me that certain members of the board are not interested in having civil conversations to work collaboratively to improve the experiences for all of our children. I will look to bring that discipline back to our district and restore the CBSD Board’s commitment to public education.
• Reckless spending. The board has spent close to $144k on a PR agency to address public outcry and spent well over $1M on a politically connected law firm to defend their actions on bad policy decisions. And most recently, a $90K per year increase for our superintendent. That is all money that could have been spent on students.
• Policies being created to push a political agenda vs. to improve students experience. We should be trusting our data, feedback from teachers and students to help shape the focus of our policy plans.
• Teacher and staff shortages. The number of students studying education keeps dropping. So, in order to maintain the high quality of education we’ve come to expect at CBSD, we have to work even harder at attracting and retaining qualified educators. Currently we are doing just the opposite. Teachers are leaving our district at an alarming rate. It’s time to turn the tide and make CBSD an appealing environment for skilled educators.

3. What policies would you change, revise, delete or retain and why?

School boards can have a profound effect on school culture. When you have a school board like CBSD that is actively undermining teachers’ and librarians’ expertise, the entire school community is impacted. The vague policies make teachers afraid to cover certain topics, to include
relevant books and media, to support students with their mental health. Beyond policy, school boards can make the work environment uncomfortable for teachers an support staff by using retaliatory methods such as unnecessary suspensions and moves to different schools, which we’ve also seen in CBSD. This is clearly impacting the education and learning environment for students.

As school board director, I will treat teachers an support staff with the respect they deserve by consulting with them in determining if policies need to be changed or revamped, by ensuring that we are paying all teachers and staff competitive wages, and by truly listening to their concerns about how our district is being run.

4. If elected, what would you fight to change or keep the same?

For starters, we need to revamp how our board meetings are run and administered. I do not believe that people who do not live or pay taxes in this district or who falsify their identify should be permitted to attend or speak during public comment at School Board meetings. I think we should also prioritize student speakers. Additionally, I would like to add a high school representative to the board (as a non voting member) from each of the high schools to be the “voice of the student”. I think this may also serve as another way to ensure certain board
members act more appropriately.