A look at Central Bucks selections for new school board director, vice president

Central Bucks School District appointed a new school board director and named Heather Reynolds as vice president at Tuesday's meeting. The board voted to have Daniel Kimicata replace Dr. Mariam Mahmud, who resigned last month when she moved out of Region V.

Central Bucks requires school board directors to reside in the districts they represent.

Jim Pepper, the board's lone Republican, was the only director to vote against Kimicata's appointment. Pepper had introduced a motion to appoint Elana Abrams-Sudai.

A new board director for Bucks County's largest school district

Kimicata is an architect with Wolstenhome Associates, a Doylestown firm.

He has three children, including two in elementary school in Central Bucks. Kimicata and his family moved to the district three years ago from Brooklyn, he said during the public interview ahead of the regular school board meeting.

Kimicata focused in his interview on the ways his architecture expertise could be helpful as the district undergoes a grade realignment that will move ninth graders from middle schools to high school buildings. The project is also to make room for a full-day kindergarten, which the district will implement in 2026 after piloting the program next year.

At least one of the district's elementary schools has classrooms that are created by dividing existing rooms with high partitions, meaning that those classrooms have no windows, Kimicata said.

Kimicata added that some elementary schools don't have as much space as they appear to have on paper. The plans for the realignment count the partitioned rooms as classrooms, he added, and the district could better account for what each classroom will look like in the realignment plans.

Kimicata's appointment comes as the district seeks to renovate multiple buildings, both for the realignment and to upgrade facilities. Several schools have no air conditioning; one elementary school has a dirt floor basement, board President Karen Smith said during discussion of this year's budget, which allocated funding for building renovations.

The selection of Kimicata wasn't popular with everyone at the meeting, as multiple people criticized a social media post he made in May 2020 suggesting a derogatory nickname for people who didn't wear masks amid the COVID pandemic. Also in a 2022 reply to a post from former Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz, Kimicata appeared to associate Oz and his supporters with incest.

More: New Central Bucks superintendent wants to 'leave politics out of schools.' Can he do it?

Two other candidates interviewed for the board director position. All three candidates were asked the same four questions, which centered on what the candidates hoped to focus on as a board director, how they currently participate in the community and what experience they would bring to their role as a board director.

Abrams-Sudai, one of those candidates, is a Navy veteran, according to her LinkedIn page. She enlisted in the military after 9/11, she said at Tuesday's meeting.

Her children, two of whom have disabilities, attend school in the district, she said. She named instilling patriotism in students as one of her primary concerns. Abrams-Sudai volunteers on her children's sports teams and at her synagogue, she said.

Abrams-Sudai also said that former board director Mahmud had referred to her as Islamophobic in the past, and that she is not Islamophobic. School board meetings have featured heated public comments in recent months amid the violence in Gaza. The adviser for a student group was accused of antisemitism for Instagram posts related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Like Kimicata, fellow candidate Benjamin Goldthorp noted that his experience in building industries would be useful for the district during the grade realignment.

Goldthorp has owned a local real estate firm for more than a decade, he said Tuesday. He also cited his experience attending municipal meetings as part of his work, and his six years of experience as a coach for his son's sports team, as useful for the board director role.

He said he would focus on building relationships and teamwork as a school board director.

Vice president appointed, board member criticized for absence

In accepting her appointment as vice president, Reynolds said she would approach the role with a focus on transparency and the success and well-being of students.

Two people at the meeting also pointed out that it was the board director Rick Haring's second consecutive absence from a school board meeting, and suggested that state law allows the board to remove a director who misses two consecutive meetings for reasons that are not a "necessary absence."

Smith said that she was aware of the provision. Haring missed the August meeting and Tuesday's meeting; during both meetings, Smith said, Haring was traveling on business.

Haring is an executive at a corporate health and security management firm, according to his LinkedIn. His work travel qualifies as a necessary absence, Smith said after the meeting, adding that he has told her that his work schedule will improve soon.

Haring's wife, Rebecca Cartee-Haring, is suing the district over alleged pay discrimination.

Haring has publicly criticized Pepper on at least one occasion for missing meetings; some members of the public said that it was hypocritical for Haring to miss two meetings after making those comments.

Haring was not immediately available for comment.

Reporter Jess Rohan can be reached at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Daniel Kimicata named to Central Bucks School Board