An Open Letter to Carlisle Area School District Voters

All elections come down to a choice, and the one voters face on November 7th is between a school board governed by truth and experience, or one overrun with partisanship and political agendas.

Over the past eight months, there have been a lot of intentionally misleading and negative things said about our students, teachers, and our schools.  We understand it may be difficult for voters to know who to trust or what to believe.  Let’s separate facts from political rhetoric:

From the start, our opponents, Team for Change, have made this race partisan and negative.  They’ve cast a cynical light on our district, spread disinformation, and shown themselves to be both misinformed and unqualified to lead the 5,500+ students, teachers, and staff that make up the Carlisle Area School District.   They’ve disparaged our students, insulted and demoralized our teachers, and attacked members of our community who disagree with them.  That’s not the Carlisle way.  

Most disappointing, Leatherman, Blume, Kephart, Shine and Brown have offered no real plans or “fresh ideas” to address our District’s toughest challenges. Instead, they’ve persistently parroted partisan talking points fed to them by groups like Moms for Liberty, the 1776 Project, and Take Back Our Schools PAC.  They’ve stood by silently while their supporters and fellow candidates denigrated LGBT students and racial minorities, spread lies about pornography in our schools, student test scores, and school finances. They even tried to cover up their personal affiliations with the extremist groups and political activists meddling in our election.   That’s not the change we need.

There is a better choice.

We, Citizens for Carlisle Schools, are a nonpartisan coalition of local parents, teachers, and taxpayers with years of experience working with children in our community.  We have pride in our schools and our kids. We acknowledge our schools face some tough challenges, but we understand them and, more importantly, have detailed plans to address them head on.   We don’t believe in partisan labels like “real Democrats” or “real Republicans” — we are Thundering Herd first.  

Our job as school board members is to prioritize academic excellence over political ideologies to give our students the skills they need to succeed.  We will promote transparency and communication between the School Board and taxpayers, and never embarrass or divide our community with culture war chaos.  We are the only candidates who have publicly pledged not to ban books; the only candidates formally recommended by local teachers; and the only candidates with detailed plans to improve our schools. You can read our plan at www.CitizensForCarlisleSchools.org/ourplan

When you head to the polls this Tuesday, November 7th, ask yourself who you trust to govern our schools — the candidates with a plan, or the ones with a political agenda?  

We would be honored to earn your vote.  Go Herd!

-       Paula Bussard, Bruce Clash, Joe Shane, George Stroud, and Jon Tarrant