On Tuesday night, at 5:30 p.m., I am asking the community to voice their concerns to the Palmerton School Board. We spent $5,000 to get assistance with hiring our next superintendent, which was a waste of money.

We asked for input from our staff, students, parents, and community to help us pick the next superintendent, and your input went unheard. The board did not listen to any input besides their own.

After the second round of interviews, Ryan Kish was leading the candidates. The candidates then met with administrators and students and Ryan was again leading the candidates with the most points. The last step was the board wanted staff, student and community input, so we put together “Meet the Candidates“ night.

Although Ryan Kish didn’t get the most points for his presentation, he did get the most overall points. Even though the community, students and staff chose who they wanted, the board did not do that. This was all a waste of people’s time and taxpayer’s money.

This just proves that when community members said “the board won’t listen anyway,” they’re right! It was all just a dog and pony show to make it seem like the board was going to listen to their input. The board members, who were elected by the public, did not go with what the public wanted; they went against it.

The state decided years ago that business managers were capable of being superintendents. There are about 20 schools in Pennsylvania that have a business manager as a superintendent, so this is not uncommon. As a business manager, he has saved the taxpayers millions of dollars.

I believe he deserves a chance to lead this district in the right direction. He is willing to listen and open to suggestions. The problem with school boards is that they come and go and leave the mess for the next set of school board members to fix. We have a chance to do the right thing for Palmerton Area School District and having Ryan Kish as our superintendent would be the best thing for our district.

Earl Paules

Palmerton