I remember the Democratic Candidates participating in a debate sponsored by the Tea Party. They had no problem crossing party lines to offer that audience their insight into issues important to the children and families of the Wissahickon School District. I thought that school board positions were nonpartisan therefore, all School Board Candidates should be willing & excited to participate in debates sponsored by either party. There is NO excuse for NOT participating in a debate which offers the public insight into your knowledge and ability to make intelligent nonpartisan decisions regarding their children's education & future.
This poor decision to boycott a community debate sponsored by PARENTS demonstrates a failure of leadership and commitment to the community, the schools and its children! I commend Democratic Candidate, Ron Stoloff & Burunda Prince-Jones, for participating in the Tea Party Debate and the WSD Parent Forum Debate thus, demonstrating their willingness to put the interest of the children of the Wissahickon School District before partisan politics! Shame on the rest!!!

The current WSD school board, with the exception of a precious few, care more about their Tea Party agenda than the parents and students for which they were elected to serve. They swear their allegiance to Victor Meitner, and his band of self serving, self-righteous lap-dogs, and have forgotten that their positions are community based, not politically based. The Republican candidates decision to 'boycott' a community meeting sends a very loud, very clear message: They don't care what we -as taxpayers ( and you'll forgive me for going to the Tea Party's most favorite line), have to say. Vote them out. Perhaps they will hear that.

Chris, how about this - one of the candidates was told flat-out by one of the hosts, "I would never vote for you - you're not a Democrat!" Does that sound bipartisan?

Concerned,

So, there's a person who said they'd never vote for one of the Republicans. What do you think the chances are that the head of the Blue Bell Tea Party won't vote for me? The answer is 0 - and he made that recommendation to his group. But, since we don't know who *you* are, how do we know that what you report is actually true since you are hiding your identity?

Did he interview you before or after he made that recommendation? I was there, it was after. He gave you a fair shake. The people running your sham of a debate didn't do that. Some of the HSA presidents even told candidates to stay away from it because it wasn't going to be impartial at all, and they didn't want to be associated with it.

Concerned,

Do you actually believe that the head of the Tea Party had, for 1 moment, actually considered recommending Burunda or me? If that's that what you're suggesting, then you think the people on this blog are much more innocent than they really are.

BTW: do you have any names to add to your 'revelations?' Or are they, like you, anonymous?

They heard you out before deciding. The people in your debate didn't. Period.

This is still NOT about one person's opinion. It is NOT about one person voting or NOT voting for you!! It is about the audience, the PARENTS & community, and their right to hear from ALL the candidates. Someone gave the order NOT to attend the forum and they all followed. No one was thinking for themselves. VERY Poor judgement. VERY poor leadership skills!

We are some of the members of the various PTC, HSA and PTO’s from the Wissahickon school district. Collectively we have children in every education level. The volunteers who invited you to this forum raise many thousands of dollars a yr for the children in the schools in the district, and spend countless hours of time volunteering for our schools. We get the concept of busy. We are some of the people who invited you to a community conversation.
We are dismayed by your lack of attendance as a group. We understand that it was probable that every candidate would not be able to attend, and we realize that our invitation was late to some of the candidates. We were taken aback by a complete boycott of the event.
We understand that you are available at all board meetings, we see you on WSD TV, and we know how the system works. We have never met many of you, save Mrs. Prince Jones. This is an important election year and we have important questions which are not appropriate to ask at a board meeting which is following an agenda.
You are asking us to entrust you with two things we hold very dear, first and most importantly our children - our future, and secondly our hard earned money. We find it no less than exasperating that you could not find it in yourselves to put your own personal experiences with one person behind to come to engage with your community.
Sincerely,
E. Kunzier, VP Mattison Avenue HSA, S. Condeelis, A. McFarland Co-Presidents WMS PTC

Stacey, you never met me? We don't run in to each other from time to time? We didn't serve on a committee together?
Janice

Question still remains, "Why did you NOT attend a community sponsored debate?".. The letter / excuse was written on behalf of ALL the Republican candidates. It is an extremely poor excuse for depriving WSD parents an opportunity to hear your position and ask you pertinent questions. Peer pressure?.. How sad!