Politics & Government

LETTER: Writer Says Rhoads and Donatelli Not Pro-Education

Letter writer says voters in East Penn School District should be wary of running mates Garrett Rhoads and Chris Donatelli, who are running for the East Penn School Board on the Team ESPD ticket.

Editor's Note: This Letter to the Editor is posted separately on Emmaus Patch and Lower Macungie Patch. 

To the Editor:

Garrett Rhoads and his running mate Chris Donatelli are running for school board under the guise that they are pro-education, pro-student, pro-administration basically pro-everything. People in this community who care about education should be very concerned about this duo for the following reasons:
  • Rhoads has been affiliated with misleading information about East Penn During the 2011 campaign a mailer was sent out in support of the Stolz/Rhoads team that falsely accused East Penn students of having falling SAT scores (The point value of the test was changed lowering overall points for all test takers). At a recent “Meet the Candidates Night” Mr. Rhoads had the opportunity to answer a question about this mailer but side stepped the matter completely. The 2011 mailer also attacked the success of our schools by indicating one school in corrective action and another under warning. The mailer failed to mention that both schools were given these labels due to a subcategory score for special education students.
  • Rhoads joined Stolz and others to attack books  At a school board meeting earlier this year Mr. Rhoads read a passage from a book that he believed to be pornographic. Several high school students were present. Mr. Rhoads and Julian Stolz both attacked particular books on the summer reading list in this public forum. East Penn has a procedure to challenge any book on the summer reading list. This procedure is available to any member of the community but Rhoads and Stolz used the school board meeting to raise the issue rather than following standard East Penn procedures.

Mr. Rhoads and Mr. Donatelli refer to themselves as the Reform Team or Team EPSD. But one label that is completely incorrect is pro-education. Their actions and associations have NOT demonstrated a pro-education position. If you want to vote pro-education vote Munson, Fuller, Earnshaw and Heid on November 5th. The East Penn School Board does not need another Julian Stolz!

John Boyle is a resident of Lower Macungie Township and a parent to former East Penn School District students.


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