January is School Director Recognition Month

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 – our elect­ed school board mem­bers who devote 20 + hours a month to the chal­leng­ing and com­plex respon­si­bil­i­ties of board busi­ness, includ­ing vot­ing on bud­gets, adopt­ing pol­i­cy, and con­duct­ing com­pre­hen­sive planning.

These ded­i­cat­ed vol­un­teers reside in our com­mu­ni­ty. They are our neigh­bors, friends, com­mu­ni­ty lead­ers, par­ents at your school, and engaged senior citizens.

Bensalem’s school direc­tors over­see a $163 million-dollar bud­get pro­vid­ing a qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion for the more than 6,300 stu­dents in our nine schools staffed by 502 teach­ers, 63 admin­is­tra­tive employ­ees, and 472 full and part-time sup­port personnel.

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.

The local­ly elect­ed vol­un­teer pub­lic ser­vants who con­tribute to keep­ing the pub­lic school sys­tem strong and effec­tive in Bensalem Township are: Eric Price, President; Heather D. Nicholas, Vice President; Marc Cohen; Jack W. Meyer; Jiten Patel; Joseph A. Pettyjohn; Kim J. Rivera; and Heather Snyder.