Nancy Crowder Finishes School Board Statement

At a Baldwin-Whitehall School Board meeting on Wednesday, board President Nancy Sciulli DiNardo interrupted fellow board member Nancy Lee Crowder while Crowder was explaining the credentials of her own nominee for a vacancy on the board.

Crowder halted her explanation but ultimately nominated a "Karen Brown." Brown failed to earn appointment to the board by receiving only one "yes" vote—from Crowder.

Instead, longtime B-W School Board member and former state Rep. Martin Michael Schmotzer rejoined the board by a 5-3 vote.

The Baldwin-Whitehall Patch asked Crowder for her full remarks. Here they are (completing part in bold):

I have reviewed each and every application as instructed to do so. When there's an open seat on the board, it allows this board to pick a person who might not even consider running in an election. It should not be about appointing our friends; it should be about appointing the best person for the job.

However, with that being said, there are people that applied that have been on this board or ran in previous elections. And I appreciate that, because sitting on this board is a thankless job at times. Running in campaigns is another one.

You please some of the people some of the time, but you will never please all of the people all of the time.

I only know this candidate (Brown) from reading her application and résumé. She is and has been an educator for many years. I think with all of her experience in the field of education in one of the top local school districts with one of the best AYP (adequate yearly progress) scores, I think this would be a great opportunity to add a little insight on the board side of things.

At this time when B-W is facing some serious challenges, we can place an educator on the board that is out in the trenches and can bring wisdom to this board regarding AYP, PSSAs (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams), the implementation of Common Core Standards, Keystone Exams and other assessments and issues that affect our students.

She can bring a different perspective to this board on these issues.

At this current time, I am nominating Karen Brown.

Read through other Baldwin-Whitehall School Board items here.

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