Central Bucks school board fills two open seats following abrupt resignations last month

The Central Bucks school board is now back up to nine members after a special meeting Monday in Doylestown.

The board voted 6-0 to appoint Jenine Zdanowicz, of Warwick, to the district’s Region 4 seat and Robert Dugger, of Warrington, to fill the Region 7 seat. Both seats will be on the ballot in 2025.

Board member Jim Pepper, now the lone Republican member of the board, was absent from Monday’s meeting.

Former Republican board members Lisa Sciscio, who held the Region 4 seat, and Debra Cannon, who represented Region 7, abruptly resigned their seats in February after volleying several accusations of corruption and unethical behavior at the Democrat-led board.

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The two were elected to office with Pepper in the 2021 election, after running against the same Democrats who now replace them on the board.

Zdanowicz took 2,150 votes to Sciscio’s 2,239 votes and Dugger got 2,053 votes to Cannon’s 2,121 votes.

Zdanowicz has worked in IT and marketing for almost two decades and moved to Warwick 30 years ago specifically to put her children through the Central Bucks School District.

“I’m willing and able to commit the time and effort required to serve our school and our community,” Zdanowicz said. “I enjoy being very involved in our school … and honestly, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”

Zdanowicz has held a number of parent volunteer positions on local, districtwide and inter-district groups over the past 11 years, during which time she said she helped raise over $200,000 to help pay for equipment upgrades and field trips at John Barclay Elementary School.

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Among the priorities for Zdanowicz and Dugger isa the search for a new superintendent to replace Abram Lucabaugh, who entered into a $700,000 separation agreement with the outgoing school board in November.

“One of the most critical roles of the school board is to appoint, set direction and evaluate superintendents. Over the past 10 years, we’ve had six superintendents, and every time one leaves it costs us a boatload of money,” Zdanowicz said.

“Our last few superintendents didn’t work out as we desired. They’ve cost the district money, but also — just as important — it’s caused disruption in our district,” Dugger said.

Dugger said his 20 years of US and international work in human resources, 10 of those years at the executive level, made him uniquely qualified to find the right person to handle the day-to-day administration in Central Bucks.

Drawing in and retaining good teachers is another priority for Dugger, but he added that past controversial policies have made the district an unattractive employer among recent graduates.

“My daughter graduated from West Chester University in May of last year. Several of her friends were (Central Bucks) grads and also teaching majors. They would not consider working for (Central Bucks),” Dugger said.

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Although the current board suspended policies like it’s library policy expanding book challenges and a sex-based distinctions in Athletics policy, Duggar said the district’s reputation still needs to recover.

“If we want to attract and retain the best (teachers), we must be the best parents, the best administrators, and the best community that we can be.”

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Central Bucks board now eight Democrats to one Republican after vote