Centennial School District voters made their voices heard in November’s election by voting two Republican directors out and narrowing the board’s GOP majority to 5-4. And it appears the message is resonating with some board directors.
At its December 1 board reorganization meeting, while two new Democrats were sworn in as new members, what followed suggests a new chapter for a school board mired in controversy in 2025 after an unpopular superintendent hiring.
Following a 6-3 vote, Democrat Patti Crossan is board president. Republicans Charles Martin and Jane Schraeder Lynch voted with Democrats Crossan, Tony Sadowski, and newly elected Krista DiPaolo and Karen Krieger to elevate Crossan to the new postion. Republicans Flemming Godiksen, Michael Hartline and Katheleen Maguire voted no.
Democrat Tony Sadowski was then voted vice president by the same 6-3 margin.
Republican Martin was voted the board’s new assistant secretary by 8-0, with Maguire abstaining.
“I am thrilled to welcome Krista DiPaolo and Karen Krieger to the Centennial School Board. Together with President Crossan, Vice President Sadowski, Assistant Secretary Martin and Director Lynch, we have a strong board majority that is willing to work across party lines to make the hard decisions ahead for Centennial,” said Nancy Pontius, a Centennial parent and Warminster resident.
Former school board president and two-term director Mary Alice Brancato lost her bid for re-election, as did Mark Gindhart, a one-term director. Neither attended the meeting.
Brancato in many ways became the public face of the school board’s contentious 5-4 vote to hire controversial and divisive former Central Bucks School District Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh as Centennial’s next superintendent. At the time Republican board members Brancato, Godiksen, Gindhart, Maguire and Hartline voted to hire Lucabaugh. Republican directors Lynch and Martin joined Democrats Crossan and Sadowski to vote no. This hiring, and the way it was handled, became an election issue that drove many voters to the polls.
The vote followed multiple meetings ahead of Lucabaugh’s hiring, which were packed with parents and concerned residents stepping up to speak and voice concerns over hiring Lucabaugh. Lucabaugh’s tenure at Central Bucks was marked by accusations of championing the then board majority’s Moms for Liberty agenda, allegations of discriminatory practices against LGBTQ+ students and staff who supported them, and streamlining book banning. In 2023 Lucabaugh resigned after Democrats gained control of the Central Bucks school board, but not before being gifted a “golden parachute” by the outgoing Republican school board majority.
Pontius is optimistic about Centennial’s new board moving forward.
“There are many things this new board will have to tackle, especially budget matters and potential redistricting, and I am confident our new board majority is ready to manage these issues with the care and compassion our students deserve,” Pontius said.
