Carlisle school board appoints George Stroud to serve as replacement for Eby

Carlisle Area School Board members voted 6-0 Thursday to appoint George Stroud to fill the board vacancy created by the recent death of Gerald Eby.

Stroud was the only applicant interviewed for the vacancy. He will serve as a replacement until new board members are seated on Dec. 7 after the November election. Board members Anne Lauritzen and David Miller were absent from the special meeting.

A lifelong Pennsylvania resident, Stroud is a career educator with 30 years of experience as an administrator in higher education. He is vice president for student life and dean of students at Dickinson College.

This November, Stroud will run with Citizens for Carlisle Schools, a slate of candidates that feature incumbents Paula Bussard, Bruce Clash and Jon Tarrant, as well as newcomer Joseph Shane. Also on the ballot are members of Team for Change: Heather Leatherman, Al Shine, Colleen Blume, Walt Brown and Dawn Kephart.

Prior to answering questions Thursday, Stroud was given an opportunity to introduce himself. He and his wife Stacey moved into the district about five years ago with their three children, two who currently attend Carlisle High School and a recent graduate.

Prior to answering questions Thursday, Stroud was given an opportunity to introduce himself. He and his wife Stacey moved into the district about five years ago with their three children, two who currently attend Carlisle High School and a recent graduate.

“I want to find a way where I can have an impact and give back to this community,” Stroud said. “I have skills and abilities that can help make sure that all students who come through the Carlisle school district have a great experience.”

Stroud holds a doctorate degree in higher education administration from Widener University and a master’s degree in student personnel from Slippery Rock University. As a senior staff member at Dickinson College, Stroud provides strategic leadership for collegiate athletics, the campus Wellness Center, residence life, campus engagement and public safety.

Board members asked Stroud a range of questions from his approach to budgeting and parental engagement to his views on the role of public education in the arts, athletics and other extracurricular activities. In his current role, Stroud serves on a planning and budgeting committee that involves faculty, staff, students and administrators.

“We meet throughout the entire year looking at the budget for the next year,” Stroud said. “We’re talking with the different departments on what is working and what is not working. The real key is trying to figure out what is a priority. It would be great to be able to fund everything in any given year, but the reality is there are limitations within our budget. So we have to have deliberate honest conversations about what the needs are and make hard decisions.”

In communicating with families, the key to success is understanding that Carlisle is a very diverse community, Stroud said. “I’m not sure if we can communicate in one way because different groups need to be communicated with in different ways if they are to hear the message. It’s trying to figure out who are our constituents and what is the best way to communicate with each group.”

One goal of public education is to provide a well-rounded experience for students that cater to their individual learning style, said Stroud, who is a volunteer baseball and track coach. “It’s not only exploring in the classroom. It’s having an opportunity to explore, grow and learn on the athletic field, in the arts, and so on. If you talk about athletics, it teaches our students how to get along with others, how to play well in the sandbox, how do you become part of a team. You may be in a group of people you don’t agree with but you have one common goal. It teaches those skills early on. Hopefully, those skills will stay with them as they move into adulthood and their professional lives.”

Board member Sue Bower asked Stroud how he would advocate for Carlisle students with different needs or abilities. Stroud said the key is to identify roadblocks to success and work out ways to smooth out the obstacles through program, policy and procedural changes.

As for the board’s role in improving academic achievement, he said the goal there should be to listen to the administration, ask tough questions and then trust educators to implement strategies once the board arrives at a consensus. “I don’t want to come in thinking that I know this. There are professionals who work here in this district. They have the answers. We need to talk to them. We also need to engage the parents.”

Board member Bruce Clash wanted to know if public education is doing what it can to prepare high school graduates for the next stage in life.

Stroud said the incoming freshman class is the first group of students who started their high school career online. He was referring to March 2020 and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that forced school districts across the U.S. to move toward remote instruction.

A concern nowadays of college administrators is the ability of current students to interact and engage with one another to achieve a common goal, Stroud said. One objective is to get them to understand that while there is beauty in being an individual, there is also beauty in working in teams, he said.

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