Politics & Government

Keep Saucon Valley Schools Safe from Tea Party [Letter]

The following letter to the editor about the upcoming Saucon Valley School Board election is by Lower Saucon Township resident Arthur Joel Katz.

Editor's Note: To submit a letter to the editor about the upcoming election, email it maryellen.alu@patch.com for consideration no later than noon on Friday, Nov. 1.

Which is more important, keeping taxes down or education up? Obviously, both are important. As [Saucon Valley School Board member] Sandy Miller put it, a board member cannot forget that we are representatives, not just of taxpayers, but students and parents as well. 

Choosing among the various candidates for school board, it is vital to pick people who don’t lean overboard in either direction. It is also vital to pick people who understand that being a board member is hard work, unpaid, often unpleasant, and is not just a matter of showing up at a meeting twice a month. And finally, it is also vital to pick people who have a real interest in education and, as the phrase goes, “play well with others.” In short, in our district we cannot afford the partisan gridlock that closed our government as part of the failed strategy of the Tea Party.

Find out what's happening in Hellertown-Lower Sauconwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

These are the candidates that I am happy to recommend:

Sandra A. Miller, Robert Phillips, Jeanne Reilly and Ralph Puerta. 

Find out what's happening in Hellertown-Lower Sauconwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Sandy Miller has devoted a large part of her life to the Saucon Valley School District. She is the consistent and happy warrior of pro-educational policies and managed to be a financial conservative at the same time. Moreover, she is the outstanding leader of the board when it comes to common sense. There is no one more vital to maintaining the district’s educational standards than Ms. Miller.

Robert Phillips is a superb candidate. One only has to read his positions on various issues in response to the questions that Hellertown-Lower Saucon Patch posed.* He has diligently attended board meetings for years and would bring to the board, if elected, a great point of view on education and management.

I've supported Jeanne Reilly before and am pleased to do so again. She has children in our schools and has had a firsthand view of the good and the bad in our district. She is rightly pro-education and runs to contribute to the welfare of our students. The Tea Party attack on Jeanne based on her husband being a teacher at Saucon is mean-spirited and sexist nonsense. She is her own woman and does not rely on her husband for her opinions. Moreover, if need be she would certainly excuse herself from votes affecting her husband.

Finally, I recommend the re-election of Ralph Puerta. He and I have often disagreed about issues that came before the board, but the great thing about Ralph is that he works continually for consensus. There is a quote from Kipling somewhere about the advantage of being able to keep your head when everybody else loses theirs. Ralph keeps his head and often comes up with good solutions to the board's battles. 

Keep Saucon safe from the Tea Party. Let us pray.

Arthur Joel Katz

Lower Saucon Township

*To read other Patch school board candidate profiles, click on their names below:

Ralph Puerta, Sandra Miller, Ed Inghrim, Jeanne Reilly, John Dowling, Russell Lebkuecher

Photo: A Tea Party protest (Patch file photo)


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here