We’re the Central Bucks school board members who opposed anti-LGBTQ measures, and we’re sick of ‘bad policy’

As educators across the nation work to address the challenges of pandemic-related learning loss, one would have thought that school board officials would have spent the last calendar year focusing on bridging learning gaps created by virtual learning. Some experts believe that students who spent even a very limited time learning remotely lost an equivalent of eight to 10 weeks of math instruction.

But instead of tackling those core educational issues, school boards across the country — including the board of the Central Bucks School District on which we serve — have decided to spend the last year fueling culture wars.

Instead of finding ways to support student learning, some school boards focused on policies intended to remove books from school libraries, eliminate the use of a student’s preferred pronouns and chosen names, and strip away programs that reinforce the positive representations of diversity that reflect the beauty in our society.

Instead of focusing on the students, many school board officials focused on partisan politics.

Not only does this approach, and such policies and actions, fail to address the real and present need to focus on learning loss, it actively works against it.

We know that stress impairs cognitive function, and students learn best in safe environments. Creating classrooms that lead with community building, belonging, and dignity helps students achieve the right mindset to be ready to learn. These welcoming environments aid students’ abilities to plan and meet goals, regulate their behavior, and help students stay focused despite possible distractions.

» READ MORE: The Central Bucks School District’s indefensible treatment of LGBTQ students | Editorial

In short, students learn best when they feel like they belong in their schools and in their communities. Don’t we all want our students to be and do their best?

A school board is supposed to be nonpartisan, meaning personal political beliefs must be left at the door. Any policy a school board creates should come from experience, expert advice, and a place of learning and caring about the students.

A school board should operate and act as a team of board members and the superintendent. For anyone following the news about the Central Bucks School District from the past year, it is painfully obvious that is not the situation here.

The majority of our colleagues on the Central Bucks School Board have seemingly subscribed to the national partisan agenda that has a disproportionately negative impact on historically marginalized groups, most notably the LGBTQ community. These partisan actions have also distracted from other significant issues in our district. Our district is facing considerable staff shortages and a mental health crisis among students. Instead of responding to the specific needs of our community, the three of us have been dragged along by the voting majority from bad policy to bad policy in a firestorm of controversy and negative attention at a cost to taxpayers of nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.

Just last week the latest bad policy passed — one that began as an administrative directive banning Pride flags and morphed into an embarrassing inventory of restrictions on intellectual and personal freedoms for our students and staff.

» READ MORE: Central Bucks’ new policy is an ‘anti-LGBTQ crusade’ | Opinion

Central Bucks is more than “school board wars.” We, the three school board members who have opposed these bad policies, want to make clear that this district is the people, the students, the teachers, coaches, psychologists, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, mechanics, support staff, nurses, administrators, and all of the other hardworking individuals who dedicate every day to making it a good one for roughly 18,000 students. We are fiercely proud to be associated with the people who support the success of our schools.

As we enter this new year, we will continue to try to work with the voting majority on the school board to work toward good policy.

We want to support policies and practices that lead to positive outcomes for the whole child.

We believe that good policy leads to good outcomes for all and does not result in needless expenditures for our taxpayers in the form of legal fees.

We deeply hope we are able to return to a balanced school board agenda, which supports and protects our diverse student population with a focus on expanding and enriching academic opportunities.

We want our teachers to teach and our students to learn in a culture of respect and dignity.

Tabitha Dell’Angelo, Mariam Mahmud, and Karen Smith are members of the Central Bucks Board of School Directors.