GOP Offers Full Slate of Five for School Board

Editor's note: There are three Democrats and five Republicans seeking five, four-year terms on the Bensalem Board of Education in next Tuesday's general election. This story looks at the biographical information and thoughts of the GOP hopefuls. The same info for the Democrats is the focus of a separate story on Bensalem.Patch.com.

The Republican Party is offering up to voters a full slate of five candidates for five seats on the Bensalem school board, including two incumbents.

Heather Nicholas, 37, of The Coves, is the president of the board, completing her first four-year term.

“I like being involved and I have a vested interest with a first-grader and fourth-grader in the district,” she said. “I want to help keep the district moving in the right direction.”

Asked about the biggest issue or issues facing the district, she said, “Maintaining the upward slant with our curriculum and educational opportunities. We need to continue getting more out of educational opportunities without doubling our budget. It's a tight balance.”

Nicholas is a website designer who graduated from Bensalem High and Millersville University. She also is a member of the Bensalem Historical Society. She has lived in Bensalem since 1988, with a few years away during college.

Nicholas will appear on both the GOP and Democratic ballots, by virtue of her vote count in the primary election.

The other incumbent candidate is Wayne Lewis, another BHS grad who went on to graduate from Bucks County Technical School. He was appointed to fill a vacated seat a little over a year ago after serving a full term in the early 2000s.

He said the biggest issue facing the district is pending school voucher legislation.

“I could go for vouchers if the legislation is written properly but to take money from districts won't help students,” said the accountant and 50-year township resident.

Lewis is a Navy veteran who also serves on the Bensalem Community Development Advisory Board. He said one reason he is running is that he would like to see the completion of the gym/community center at Bensalem High and the district's continued work on preventative maintenance.

The other hopefuls are Bucks County probate clerk Pam Strange, aeronautic systems engineer Kevin McKay, and marketing and information technology director Matthew Grodsky. All three said the main issue facing the district is cost containment.

“Income has dropped due to reduced assessments and slashed state and federal funding. The district expenses must likewise be adjusted,” said Grodsky, coordinator of the 912 Patriots of Lower Bucks, a nonpartisan group “dedicated to bringing courage, honesty and integrity back into government, through education and targeted activism, for the purpose of restoring the United States to a constitutional republic as it was originally founded,” according to its Web page.

“Many families in Bensalem are walking a financial tightrope,” Grodsky continued. “Any added burden could lead to foreclosure or worse.   While the focus must always be on achieving the best results for our students, we must seriously consider the financial realities of our residents.”

McKay expressed a similar position along with some criticism.

“The most important issue is providing a quality education at a high value for the taxpayer.  As the cost of running the schools have increased, we have seen an increasingly heavy tax burden placed on Bensalem residents that has outpaced the improvement in education quality,” he said. “We can neither slash and burn in the budget to decrease it nor throw money indiscriminately into the system and blindly hope to improve it.  We must focus our resources into those areas that create the most education for students and be willing to make the hard decisions.”

Strange said “cost-saving measures must be considered in all facets of district operations in the hope of avoiding, whenever possible, the complete elimination of educational programs or curriculum. By doing more with less, we will best serve our students and our taxpayers.”

Strange, 49, is a graduate of Lower Bucks Christian Academy who is enrolled at Bucks County Community College, according to the GOP website. A Cornwells Hights resident, she has lived in the township more than 20 years. Strange is a member of the Bensalem Environmental Advisory Board and has volunteered for the Salvation Army.

McKay – a graduate of Holy Ghost Prep and Temple University Law School who works for Boeing – said he brings a “unique set of skills to the challenges facing our district.”

“My engineering background give me a particular interest in the math and science programs that will prepare Bensalem students for the jobs of their generation. My MBA and management background provides me the tools to dig deeply into the budgets and fiscal challenges faced by the district.  And my law background allows me to gain an understanding of the mandates placed on our schools that can sometimes strain our resources,” said the 33 year old.

McKay has been a township resident for close to ten years and lives in the Cornwells Hights section. He serves as the chairman of the Bensalem Impact Fee Advisory Committee.

Grodsky – who works for a plumbing and heating/ventilation/air conditioning firm - also pointed to his varied experience.

“I have been a civil servant working for the Free Library of Philadelphia, worked in children's programming at Nickelodeon, as an animator on 'Little Bill,' and have ten years of experience in the business world solving problems and keeping multiple locations up and running on a very lean budget,” he said.

Grodsky, 36, is a graduate of University of the Arts and has lived in Bensalem 11 years. He serves on the Bensalem Shade Tree Commission. He is the father of two; his older child attends a Catholic school while his younger child is not school age.

He, like Nicholas, also will appear on the Democratic ballot.