With a degree in communications and almost 20 years of media relations experience, Heather Reynolds believes she knows the ingredients needed to create positive results. However, when she looks at the Central Bucks School District, she sees a school board that’s failing its students. That’s part of the reason why Reynolds is running for school board to represent Region 2 in Buckingham.
With two children in the school district, the choices being made by the current board majority hit home.
“We want the best for our children. Parental choice, parental involvement, parental partnership has always existed,” she said. “They’re writing policies for problems that literally don’t exist,” noting that some of these changes have come with a big price tag.
Reynolds describes the current school board’s agenda as impulsive, ineffective, and one that is causing the district to spiral into a quagmire of fiscal irresponsibility at the expense of students, teachers and taxpayers.
“I’ve watched with growing concern. Hard earned taxpayer money which should be going into our classrooms has been used to pay expensive PR firms and politically connected lawyers,” she said. “Money which should have gone into student enrichment.”
The current board, with the surreptitious help of the Independence Law Center, a far-right Christian legal firm, has helped draft policy language that has landed the district into costly Constitutional and Title IX challenges.
Reynolds believes the use of taxpayer funds to hire high priced professionals to extricate the board from sticky situations would have been better spent on expanding the STEM program as well as teacher training and development.
Transparency is one of the top issues on this candidate’s list, primarily because it reveals details pertaining to multiple issues that impact the district’s overall standing in Bucks County.
“Our district has always been highly regarded and respected,” Reynolds said, crediting the teachers and support staff. “Our test scores are dropping. And that’s significant. People are not going to want to move here to send their kids to a failing school, a school that has test scores that are dropping.”
Active in the community, Reynolds has been volunteering for years to help children learn skills and achieve goals that enrich their future. Additionally, she was chiefly responsible for bringing the Stand Up For Justice Educator Grant to Central Bucks, a program that supports educators in their endeavors to combat bigotry and bullying in the community.
Reynolds readily admits to being an activist for the students and teachers in Central Bucks. “We’ve now tried it their way for almost two years and we’re regressing. We’re not progressing,” she said.
“They’re not getting anywhere. They’ve accumulated a lot of debt, but what can they say they actually accomplished?” she asked. “If elected, I will stand up for what’s right.”
Reynolds has been endorsed by PSEA-PACE, Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance, the Plumstead and Buckingham Democrats and CBSD Neighbors United for School Board.
She will face off against incumbent Dana Hunter in the May primary.
The deadline to register to vote in the Pennsylvania primary is May 1. The last day to apply for a vote-by-mail or absentee ballot is May 9.
