sThe election is exactly 6 weeks away today, so its time to start thinking about the school board again. Let me be up front: I'm asking for a donation to help support my school board campaign.
In the primary election this past spring, my opponents Gharrett Rhoads and his running mate Chris Donatelli spent more than $7,500 on the election. That is almost 800% more than I spent, and over $3.60 per vote Mr. Rhoads received in the primary! And the vast majority of this money-- $6,000-- came from one individual, Mr. Charles Rhoads, according to campaign finance reports. Unfortunately, I don't have a rich Uncle Charlie to underwrite my school board campaign. I have paid for almost everything myself up until this point. But now I'm asking for your help. Already I have more requests for yard signs than I can meet. And I need to print updated campaign materials to give to people as I go door to door in the coming weeks. If you live in the East Penn School District, please consider a small donation to help with these costs, whether its $10, $25, or $50-- every little bit helps. You can contribute right now with a major credit card by clicking the "Donate" button below. Or if you prefer, you can mail a check to Citizens to Elect Munson, 305 N. 2nd St., Emmaus PA 18049.
And if you know anyone else who might be willing to make a small contribution, please send them to http://www.munson4eastpenn.org/get-involved.html
Thank you!
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A huge and heartfelt thanks to everyone who has advised me, helped me, and voted for me in this school board campaign. I've been fortunate to have the support of so many people willing to stay informed about the issues and support public education. Thank you. The results from the election are now in, and they include good news and bad news. The good news is that I was one of winners on the Democratic side, and all three other candidates I endorsed-- Alan Earnshaw, Rebecca Heid, and Michael Moxley-- also won. I will be on the ballot in the general election this November! The bad news is that I did not win on the Republican side-- I lost by 73 votes, according to unofficial results. This result is disappointing. But with enough volunteer energy and support this fall, I believe I and the other pro-education candidates in the race can win in the general election. Thanks again for all of your support!
photo credit: Vox Efx via photopin cc
Tuesday is the election for the East Penn school board. Please vote! If you are unsure of your polling location, you can find it here. This is an important election that will impact our schools and our community. Yet very few eligible voters will actually participate because no national politicians are running. You can make a difference by voting. But you can multiply your impact by calling up just a few friends and neighbors and reminding them to vote too. If every public education supporter got just three additional people to the polls who might not otherwise participate, we would be assured victory for our schools and community. I will be voting for the four candidates that I believe can best balance a concern with public education and a concern for fiscal responsibility:
School board candidates Garrett Rhoads, Wanda Mercado-Arroyo and Chris Donatelli recently distributed campaign literature that accused me and other candidates of not having "the decency to make themselves available for a public debate." (You can see their flyer in its entirety here.) My record of engagement with the community over the issues at stake in our schools speaks for itself. This flyer says less about me and more about the judgment of the candidates who produced it. More than anything, I'm saddened these candidates have felt they need to resort to negative attacks. Their charges are based on an event held by the organization CEPTA last week (the name of the group is left off their flyer). I did not attend this one meeting for the simple reason that I was not invited. Every other public forum held during this campaign-- both partisan and non-partisan-- extended direct invitations to all candidates via telephone call, email, or both. CEPTA, however, did not invite everyone. I learned of their meeting only indirectly, by reading a published comment made by Patch.com editor Jennifer Marangos, who was invited. An organization that extends direct invitations to individual journalists but not individual candidates is unlikely to provide a venue for open and honest discussion about public education and the needs of our community. I've since learned that candidates in previous years have come to the same conclusion I have regarding CEPTA forums, including our current Republican state representative Ryan Mackenzie. Failing to invite candidates for public office to an event, and then questioning their "decency" for not attending that very same event? I would define decency very differently. Most people agree that motivated, high quality teachers are the most important determining factor in excellent public education. But who makes up the school board is important too. A study by the Iowa Association of School Boards compared the characteristics of school board members in high performing districts with those in low performing districts. What they found was that the school boards themselves had an important impact on the quality of schools. More specifically, school boards that set high standards, were deeply knowledgeable about teaching and learning, created a supportive environment for teachers and staff, involved their communities, and used data to make decisions, produced far better results than those which didn't. There are real differences between the candidates for the East Penn school board on many of these dimensions. Who will set high standards? Who is knowledgeable about teaching and learning? Who will create a supportive environment for teachers and staff? Who will listen? Who has the most experience working with complex data? As you plan your vote in the election primaries one week from today, I hope you will consider how the candidates compare on these dimensions. One of the chief obstacles to making meaningful, positive improvements in the East Penn School district is a small but vocal minority in our community who insist on viewing the issues we face in largely partisan terms. The first question they ask is not whether a candidate, an idea, or a proposal is a good one, but whether or not it is "Republican" or "Democratic." This is a foolhardy and dangerous approach. Foolhardy because most of the issues faced by public education and the taxpayers who support it are complex and require careful and balanced judgment based on facts. They cannot be successfully addressed with the tired and simplistic ideological sound bites of the political parties-- Republican or Democratic. Why would anyone want to use the model of partisan pettiness and gridlock that characterizes Washington DC and Harrisburg here in our local community? But partisanship is also dangerous. A number of scientific studies published in just the last few months show how political partisanship actually clouds judgment and makes it difficult for people to express or act on accurate information. The studies demonstrate that people make less accurate assessments of the economy, neglect the soundness of arguments, and ignore their own personal experience in "Republican vs. Democratic" contexts compared to when political partisanship isn't an issue. Put simply, partisanship hurts our ability to make the best possible choices for our community. Dr. Claude Fischer of the University of California summarizes this research on his blog. You can also access the individual research studies-- completed at Princeton, Northwestern, Columbia, Stanford, and Aarhus University-- directly through these links:
I'm proud that the many yards signs promoting my school board campaign are equally distributed in the front yards of Republicans and Democrats. And I am committed to meeting the challenges of the East Penn school district in a balanced, inclusive and fair way that reflects careful judgment of facts, not blind partisanship. A final reminder that the main school board candidate forum is tomorrow night: Tuesday, April 30th, from 7-9pm at the Macungie Institute on Route 100 (see map below). Doors open at 6:30pm. I would love to see the room packed with public education supporters! The non-partisan groups organizing the event-- the East Penn Chamber of Commerce and the East Penn Invested Citizens-- are asking you to submit your questions for the candidates. You'll have an opportunity to do so in person (prior to 7pm), or email them now to [email protected]. I'm running for school board in large measure because I believe in this community and in the value of community service. Please join me tomorrow in making the candidate forum as successful as possible. The East Penn school board election will be largely determined by voting in the primaries on May 21st. And if you aren't officially registered with the Republican or Democratic parties, you will not be allowed to vote in this important election. No matter what your political philosophy, please make sure you are officially registered as a Republican or Democrat now. You can do so here. If you aren't listed at that site in either major party, or if you aren't registered to vote at all, fill out this form to make the change. Don't worry-- the form looks more complicated than it is (and you need to fill out the same form whether you are registering for the first time or just adding a party). Believe it or not, MONDAY IS THE DEADLINE! Make sure your voice of support for public education is heard. Have your application postmarked by Monday, or bring the form in person to the voter registration office in the Lehigh County Government Center, 17 S. 7th St., Allentown PA 18101 (map below). Any questions? You can call them at 610-782-3197 or visit the Project VoteSmart website. The East Penn Republican Committee is hosting a school board candidate forum TOMORROW (Monday, April 15th), from 7pm to 9pm at the Wescosville Recreation Center, 5047 Hamilton Blvd. Doors open at 6:30pm. Please consider attending to learn more about all the candidates as well as show your support for public education in our community! The public is welcome; you do not need to be a registered Republican to participate. I just learned about an interesting group in the Pittsburgh area-- Yinzercation-- that are trying to organize their community to support public schools. They've done a variety of things to get the message out, including creative online and in-the-streets events that have attracted positive media attention and the attention of state legislatures. Opponents of public education are both vocal and well-organized. Public school supporters should be the same. |
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