Region 3 Candidates for Great Valley School Board—Four Year Term

• Willistown North 2,3,5,6
• Willistown South 1,2,3
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Philip Foret is lawyer and the only elected incumbent running this year. In his opening statement, he said he was originally motivated to run for school board because of the bad decisions the district had been making, specifically the Bacton Hill land purchase, the early bird contract and the installation of solar panels as an energy source at the middle school.

Mary Regina Ravenfeld (website) is a lifelong Willistown resident and a professional fundraiser. She was unable to attend the debate due to a death in the family, but her opening statement was read by moderator Jim Fields.

David Concannon (website) is a Willistown native who attended Great Valley from kindergarten through high school. He practices law at a small firm in Wayne and has three children in the district. In his opening statement, he said he believes his children are not getting as good an education in the district as he did.

View the attached videos to hear the candidates in their own words.

Here are excerpts of their answers from the Oct. 24 debate at GVHS:

Concannon       
Foret
 Ravenfeld     
Which recent school board decisions are you proud of? Which do you disagree with?

"I was dissapointed with board's decision to cut D.A.R.E. program from elementary schools. ... I thought the current buckling down and taking budget by the horns was a good decision. ... I probably would have voted for the budget that we have."

"Transparency ... We're not hiding the ball. We never hid the ball. ... I think we could have worked to keep that Spanish program in the elementary school."

[Candidate was unable to attend debate.]

Feels like the current school board votes in lockstep. How would you be independent?

"There's no question I’d be independent thinker. ... I will always do w hat I think is best."

"I guess I'm in that lockstep majority, but I am an independent thinker ... Just because 5, 6, 7 or 8 people make the same decision doesn't mean they're voting in lockstep. We discuss everything." Do/Did your children attend Great Valley?

 Yes.

No. How can the district weed out poor teachers? "We have some excellent teachers in the district, and we have some mediocre repeaters. ... The one thing I hate to hear from a teacher is, 'Well I used to spend 18 years in the high school teaching history, but now I'm teaching 7th grade science.'" "The evaluations show that we're operating at 99.5 percent efficiency ... I just can't believe that. ... I think what we need to do is ... look at the baseline standards set by Harrisburg and the union, and expand on that." What are your thoughts on dipping into the reserve fund?

"I don't think it's something we should do often. It's something we should do as necessary, and that may well be next year."

"It's the taxpayers money and I think we should use it. It's a rainy day fund ... and it's raining right now."  How did/would you have voted on ? I personally don't believe that mentoring should be an excess expense. On the other hand, if you made the promise, you have to keep it." "We should pay it, but moving forward, we shoul move away from it." How do you create an environment on school board where thinking out of the box is encouraged? "You have to be a good listener, a good thinker, independent and come to well-reasoned decisions. ... I did have on potential voter come up to me in the primary and tell me they wouldn't give me their vote because I'm too independent." "We do talk to other districts ... In the last budget cycle, I promoted the thought that, Why don't we fund [arts and music] instead of cutting them? That's out of the box thinking." Closing statement. "If you value my experience as a product of the Great Valley School District, ... as a parent, as a businessman, as an attorney, someone with a vast amount of experience serving on boards and advising boards, I ask you to vote for me." "We turned a corner on wasteful spending ... I think we have been transparent. ... I serve on a committee that negotiates with the union, and we've forged a relationship ... I'm in the relationship business."