Central Bucks’ new superintendent wants people ‘to be able to disagree and not hate each other’
Steven Yanni, who left his role leading Lower Merion after less than a year, weighed in on his plans, including new guidelines for how teachers should address "topics where there's inherent conflict."
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/pmn/K7L6KJGRABDHPM3UVYLPOMGEUA.jpg)
After years of culture-war battles that brought national attention to the Central Bucks School District, its new superintendent wants to focus on something that’s been conspicuously absent from much of the debate: education.
“Conversations about teaching and learning and student achievement have been missing, not just in Central Bucks but in a lot of districts, for a long time,” said Steven Yanni, who left his role leading Lower Merion after less than a year to take over Central Bucks — where he lives — in July.
By shifting the emphasis, Yanni, who also previously served as superintendent of the Upper Dublin and New Hope-Solebury districts, thinks he can help reunite — or at least lower the temperature in — a community that has faced bitter divides over pandemic policies, LGBTQ issues, and the Israel-Hamas war.
“I think as a nation, we need to get back to a point where we can disagree and not hate each other,” said Yanni, who was selected by the Democratic-led school board following last year’s abrupt resignation of Abram Lucabaugh.
In an interview last week, Yanni, 44, laid out some of his plans — including rolling out guidelines for staff to “create classroom environments where we can address really hard topics, topics where there’s inherent conflict, and not let it explode.” He also weighed in on other issues, like why he doesn’t think schools should ban cell phones.
What are your priorities?
My overarching goal for this year is to make sure that we’re all moving in the same direction … that we communicate really clearly, internally and externally, that our staff and students feel physically and psychologically safe. … The last couple of years, all across the country, things have been really tumultuous. And so really hearing from staff, and students … What makes you proud about Central Bucks? What are the things we absolutely should keep doing — and what are the things … we can maybe let go of?
In leaving Lower Merion, you’re working closer to home. Are there aspects of the job in Central Bucks that particularly appealed to you?
I was in Upper Dublin for six years, and then was really flattered when I got recruited from Lower Merion. People were like, why did you leave Lower Merion so soon? I’m like, there was nothing wrong — this was to have the opportunity to live in a place and lead the school district. … Right after my hiring was announced, my picture was in the paper and I was at Wawa on a Saturday morning, and someone was like, Is that our new superintendent? … I truly love what I do, so when I’m at the grocery store, and someone wants to talk to me about the district, I don’t look at that as a negative thing.
There’s been a lot of unrest in Central Bucks in recent years, maybe more so than in any other district in the region. Why do you think you can solve this?
I’m a relationship person first. … I really think that even when we’re at odds, there’s still a lot of common ground. I feel like I’ve always been good at identifying that common ground. We all want our kids to be successful at school, we all want our kids to be successful out of school. … If we keep that at the forefront, and keep the politics at the door, I think we’re going to be successful.
One of the reasons the district has been in the spotlight is alleged discrimination against LGBTQ students. The previous superintendent had called Pride flags a political symbol, and the board banned them in classrooms. What is your position on these issues?
I’m not going to judge anything that has happened prior. I have told people I can only control what happened July 1 forward, right? … We’re having a series of conversations with kids throughout this fall to find out what the student experience is — where are the groups of students that are feeling marginalized? Why are they feeling marginalized? And we can put some structures in around those places.
One of the things that we’re working on with our staff … especially with the election coming up — which is going to be divisive no matter what political party you’re affiliated with — is how do we have conversations with kids? … To you, something might be a political symbol. For me, it’s a symbol of belonging. And how do we take each other’s perspectives?
The district has also been accused of tolerating antisemitism, including in a federal civil rights complaint. There have also been Muslim students who say they feel discriminated against. How do you plan to address those issues?
We’re actually working through the final stages of the federal complaint. … I think one of the things that we’re going to need to do as a district … is adopt a real definition of antisemitism. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition I think is quite good because what accompanies it are contemporary examples of antisemitism. … When it’s not as overt, it’s really hard to detect. So we have to do some real education around that. … We’re talking about Islamophobia as well. And some of our Muslim students were saying … ‘Dr. Yanni, we feel like sometimes our voices aren’t heard as much because we’re such a small population of the district.’ Whether there’s one Muslim student or there’s 1,000 Muslim students, you still matter.
You’ve talked about needing to define the boundaries of speech for students and staff. Central Bucks was criticized by the ACLU previously for prohibiting teachers from advocating to students on political and social policy issues. How do you reconcile those two things?
We all enjoy First Amendment freedoms, and while we enjoy those, they’re not absolute. And so as educators … I can teach you about different political parties, but I can’t stand up and say, ‘I’m a Libertarian, and you should be’ … When we went to school, we probably didn’t know our teachers’ political viewpoints, because that wasn’t the world we lived in. Anymore, to say that schools have to be totally agnostic, it’s just not realistic. We’re in a 24-hour news cycle.
So helping staff understand where their boundaries are, helping students understand where their boundaries are … so many times drama ensues just because people don’t know where the line is.
The district is looking at changing its public comment policy. What’s the intent?
Board meetings are in the public, not for the public. We are a $400 million organization. The work that we do at the board table is really important. … What I would really like at our monthly meetings is for there to be a period of public comment that is agenda items only, then move into the business of the board, and then say, OK, after that, then we can have public comment on any topic. … I’m not accusing anyone in Central Bucks when I say this, but in other districts, I’ve had people grandstanding.
What do you think of the push to ban cell phones in schools?
We are no cell phones in our elementary and middle schools. High school, cell phones are not allowed during instructional time, but they’re allowed during lunch and learn and other times. There are some school districts that are locking cell phones in pouches. I’m never going to agree to that, and I’ve already had to agree to disagree with some community members that think that’s a good idea. I also don’t want to be the cell phone police, because I love TikTok, and you can put this in there. That’s where I get my cooking tips and cleaning tips. And the TikTok shop is really good. Like, there’s some good deals.
We owe it to our kids to not create artificial environments. … We’re going to respect you enough for you to have your cell phone with you, but we’re going to enforce some real clear boundaries.