School Director Recognition Month

January is “School Director Recognition Month” in Pennsylvania. Public edu­ca­tion is more than just learn­ing the basic math, sci­ence, English and his­to­ry; it’s a plat­form for stu­dents to reach their poten­tial. It inspires hope for a new gen­er­a­tion and a suc­cess­ful future. This insti­tu­tion exists in part because indi­vid­u­als vol­un­teer their time to make informed deci­sions about the issues fac­ing pub­lic schools. Every January, we take time to cel­e­brate and rec­og­nize these every­day heroes – the nine elect­ed school board mem­bers for the chal­leng­ing and vital work they do on behalf of our stu­dents, fam­i­lies and community.

Bensalem school direc­tors vol­un­teer, on aver­age, 20 hours a month to help run the schools in our com­mu­ni­ty. The school board makes dif­fi­cult deci­sions for the bet­ter­ment of our stu­dents. They vote on multi-million dol­lar bud­gets and are charged with pol­i­cy mak­ing, plan­ning, goal set­ting, and the care of facil­i­ties, labor rela­tions, tax­a­tion, and respon­si­ble fund­ing. These ded­i­cat­ed vol­un­teers reside in our com­mu­ni­ty. They are our neigh­bors, friends, com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers, par­ents at your school, and engaged senior citizens.

During this month of recog­ni­tion, please take a moment and show your grat­i­tude for school direc­tors’ time, ded­i­ca­tion, and effort year-round. The job they do is nec­es­sary to ensure our schools remain a path­way to a promis­ing future. Thank them for advo­cat­ing on behalf of our col­lec­tive inter­est, and most impor­tant­ly, for mak­ing the suc­cess of our chil­dren their priority.

Bensalem’s school direc­tors over­see a $154.1 million-dollar bud­get pro­vid­ing a qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion for the more than 6,400 stu­dents in nine schools staffed by 468 teach­ers, 56 admin­is­tra­tive employ­ees, and 459 full and part-time sup­port per­son­nel. They advo­cate an edu­ca­tion sys­tem that is pre­pared to meet the extra­or­di­nary needs of more high­ly skilled jobs and new career oppor­tu­ni­ties. They set high stan­dards of per­for­mance and account­abil­i­ty, offer new choic­es and options for par­ents and stu­dents, offer flex­i­bil­i­ty in reg­u­la­tion and ser­vice deliv­ery, and work to ensure ade­quate fund­ing and broad com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment.  

The local­ly elect­ed vol­un­teer pub­lic ser­vants who con­tribute to keep­ing the pub­lic school sys­tem strong and effec­tive in Bensalem Township are: Kim J. Rivera, President; Heather D. Nicholas, Vice President; Marc Cohen; Stephanie A. G. Ferrandez, Esq.; Rachel Fingles, Esq.; Kathleen Lesnevec; Anand Patel; Pamela Strange; and Vanessa Woods.