Neshaminy SOS candidates refuse to sign opponents' pledge
Joan Hellyer @BCCTintheknow
Four Neshaminy school board candidates have come up with a �candidate pledge� that they have invited their four opponents to sign ��but the opponents have rejected the invitation.
Board member Steve Pirritano, who is running for election to the Region 1 seat he was appointed to roughly two years ago, joined forces with fellow Region 1 candidate Tina Hollenbach, Region 2 candidate Robert Tull and Region 3 candidate Martin Sullivan to create the pledge.
It calls for the board candidates in the hotly contested races that have been fueled by a controversial $60 million consolidation effort underway in the district to promise to demonstrate good behavior and work together on district issues if they get elected to the governing body, according to a copy of the pledge obtained by the newspaper. The pledge also requires board members to be homeowners in the district, although state law does not require home ownership as a prerequisite for becoming a school director.
�We want to make certain the new board maintains integrity, openness and transparency and if we agree to the ground rules laid out in the pledge we all start out at the neutral ground,� Sullivan said. �The pledges are common sense and no one should have a problem signing that document.�
Staci O�Brien, Sullivan�s opponent in the Region 3 race, has joined her fellow Neshaminy Save Our School running mates, in refusing to sign the pledge.
�As our opponents feebly attempt to spin our failure to sign their pledge, the educated voters need to know that their pledge is not legal, does not include the current sitting board members, (is) confusing in its interpretation, totally unenforceable, and is inconsistent with the Code of Ethics subscribed by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association,� O�Brien said.
Her fellow SOS running mate, Karen Lowry, agreed.
�I will not stoop to this level to even discuss a pledge that is vague at best, arbitrary in its meaning and a waste of time,� Lowry, a Region 1 candidate, said Wednesday night. �Like my running mates, I'd rather spend the time educating the voters about the issues. This is nothing more than a feeble attempt to confuse the constituents.�
SOS member Bob Feather, a Region 2 candidate, said he knows voters are smart enough to see what the other candidates in the school board races are trying to do.
�Clearly, this is nothing more than a �bully� tactic, used by cowards, to force others into signing an ambiguous meaningless piece of paper and to use it against them if they refuse to sign it, or to try and use it against them at some point in the future,� Feather said.
SOS member Robert Sanna, who also is running for a Region 2 seat, said he has �no time and little tolerance� for the candidates who invited this group�s candidates to sign the pledge. �I will not play into their political game since the pledge is not enforceable, totally ambiguous and subject to multiple interpretations,� he said.
The SOS group is promising to fight the consolidation plan, which includes the construction of a new, $30-million plus Tawanka Elementary School in Lower Southampton, the reassignment of district fifth-graders to one of the three Neshaminy middle schools and energy upgrades at several facilities.
Lowry will face off with Pirritano and Hollenbach for two seats in Region 1. Feather and Sanna will take on Tull for the two seats in Region 2. Sullivan and O�Brien will square off for the one Region 3 seat.
Joan Hellyer: 215-949-4048; email: jhellyer@calkins.com; Twitter: @BCCTintheknow