BANGOR, Pa. — Eschewing culture war issues that have defined other school board races in the Lehigh Valley, candidates for the Bangor Area School Board are campaigning on how their background can make the district better for its students.
- Nine candidates are running for five seats on the Bangor School Board, with the primary election on May 16
- Eight of those candidates cross-filed in both the Democratic and Republican primaries, which could bring the race to a close in the primary
- The race, and the district, have so far avoided the culture war issues defining other school board races in the valley
Nine candidates are competing for five open seats, representing more than half the full board.
Four incumbents are looking for another term: Toni Lynch, Christopher Marozzi, current board President Michael Goffredo and board Treasurer Zachary Miller.
Occupational health consultant Annamarie Robertone, retired teacher Colleen Schiavone, daycare owner Tanya Peifly, full-time foster parent Courtney Gilmour, and hospital billing specialist Melissa Smith are looking to join the board.
At least one newcomer will join the board next year, as incumbent Terra Schrader retires from office.
The winners will help negotiate a new contract between the district and its teachers, along with a 20-year capital improvements plan that could shape the district for decades to come.
Cross-filed, and sharing some opinions
Nearly every candidate has cross-filed in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Smith will only appear on the Republican ballot.
Because of a challenge to one of his nominating petitions, Lynch will only appear on the Democratic ballot, though he is waging a write-in campaign in the Republican primary.
Because so many candidates are running in both Republican and Democratic primaries, the school board race could be decided in May, provided the same candidates finish in the top five in both parties’ races.
Every candidate but one, Courtney Gilmour, is registered Republican, but all are running non-partisan campaigns.
Despite their differences, the candidates seemed to agree that the district enjoys some degree of insulation from the culture-war issues defining some other school board races.Reporter Ryan Gaylor
Despite their differences, the candidates seemed to agree that the district enjoys some degree of insulation from the culture-war issues defining some other school board races.
“We don't have all of the explosive issues that you see throughout the country where people are coming to board meetings and being arrested,” Lynch said.
Gilmour said, “I had one gentleman ask me about critical race theory, and that was it. I’m not seeing a lot of that up here.”
Goffredo said, “There are social issues of the day that we all know about. And fortunately, we haven't had anything of significance pop up in our district."
“I think it’s going to be relatively quiet other than, you know, things that get said in election years.”
The candidates also said they share a belief that, at the end of the day, the district’s students are what really matters.
The Incumbents
Bangor Area School Board President Michael Goffredo first joined the board in 2007, following a stint on Roseto Borough Council. He’s also president of construction firm MSG Associates and a long-time volunteer firefighter.
He said that experience and the knowledge of how the district operates he has accumulated as a result, are why voters should give him a fifth term.
“Over the last 15 plus years, I believe I've learned a lot,” Goffredo said — particularly when it comes to working with different parts of district administration and understanding the district’s finances.
He endorsed the other incumbents in the race, citing his belief in the importance of experience.
“God bless anyone who comes forward to run for a school board position as their very first opportunity to hold public office," Goffredo said.
"That's a hard decision for a lot of people to make that really come to understand what kind of dedication it takes to be a successful board member.”
Incumbent Toni Lynch, of Bangor, said he shares Goffrdo’s background in construction, which he said is an asset, especially considering upcoming capital improvement planning in the district.
He is seeking a fourth term and said his experience and willingness to raise objections to potential district policies make him effective on the board.
“I’ve been the one board member that isn’t afraid to speak out," Lynch said. "I’m the ‘Wait-a-minute’ guy.”
Lynch also highlighted his time serving in the military and said the strong leadership he learned there is important in the school district.
He said he also would also like to see “new hires with more leadership skills as opposed to just being a teacher.”
Lynch said he is more willing than Goffredo to engage in the culture wars — he called Common Core standards “Marxist indoctrination” and called for bringing “morality and Christianity into the schools.” But he said those issues haven’t come up in Bangor.
Lynch is a registered Republican but will appear only on the Democratic ballot, after a successful challenge to his nomination petition. He also is running a write-in campaign on the Republican side.
Zachary Miller, the youngest candidate and a banker at First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union, graduated from Bangor Area High School in 2015.
He’s seeking a second term, and now is the school board’s treasurer.
Miller did not respond to repeated requests seeking comment for this report.
Christopher Marozzi, of Washington Township, Northampton County, is a 1985 Bangor Area High School graduate and has been a member of the board since 2011.
He currently works as a senior director of environmental health and safety for Lixil, a company that designs water fixtures such as faucets and housing products such as windows and doors.
Marozzi declined to be interviewed for this report.
The newcomers
Five candidates are seeking their first elected office.
Colleen Schiavone, of Washington Township, Northampton County, is seeking a seat on the board after retiring last year from teaching nearly 50 years in Bangor Schools.
“Being a teacher’s tough," Schiavone said. "There are a lot of issues that people who have never been in the trenches don’t understand.”
She said she's particularly concerned about an ongoing teacher shortage in the state, especially with new teacher contracts looming for the district.
“There's going to have to be some bartering that's going to be done in order to get the teachers there, and I think I can look at both sides," she said.
"I'm both a taxpayer and an ex-teacher. Hopefully, I can be a mediator in this process.”
It is going to take collaboration between students, parents, teachers and administrators to make that happen, she said.
Courtney Gilmour, the only candidate currently registered as a Democrat, said she is running to build a better relationship between the district’s parents and teachers.
As with the other candidates, she said she is running a non-partisan campaign.
“The culture around school boards has kind of gotten a little out of hand and has pinned parents against educators,” she said.
Gilmour said she is pushing for the district to hold more listening sessions with teachers and parents to bridge the gap.
“I want to bring that collaboration back,” she said.
She said she also wants the district to place greater emphasis on helping students pursue education after high school, whether that’s college or a trade school.
Gilmour said her experience as a full-time foster parent has helped equip her for a seat on the school board.
“I have been a foster parent and an adoptive parent for 17 years," she said. "So advocating for children has been my top priority. I feel like I could take some of that advocacy and bring it into the school board.”
Melissa Smith, of Bangor, said she started getting involved in the school district because one of her relatives, a student in the district, was being bullied.
“I rebuilt the bullying program for Bangor,” Smith said. “I appreciated the administration meeting with me and hearing my concerns, but I just think that we can do better.”
She said she’s running in part to bridge a “disconnect in communications” between district officials and parents, like herself, with students in its schools.
“When something happens in school, we hear it from our kids first,” she said. “I think we can do better with communication if we put some policies in place.”
If elected, Smith said, she would also revise the board’s public comment procedures by removing rules that require people interested in speaking about an issue not on the agenda to call into the district before noon on the day of the meeting.
Unlike the other candidates, Smith did not cross-file for the primary, and will only appear on Republican ballots.
Annamarie Robertone, an occupational health consultant from Washington Township, Northampton County, is the only non-incumbent in the race who has run for office before.
She unsuccessfully ran for Northampton County Council in 2021.
She declined to be interviewed for this report.
Tanya Peifly, of Upper Mt. Bethel Township, co-owns and operates Learning Locomotion, a chain of four childcare centers in Northampton County.
Peifly did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this report.
