Every school district has a board of directors. The board of directors is tasked with duties like the selection of the superintendent, the choosing of policies that impact the school as well as setting local property tax in addition to other procedural items.  

For Central York, there are nine members on the board, and every four years an election is held to cycle candidates and those wishing to serve their community. That’s when either four members run for re-election, or new candidates run for a position. Then four years later, another election is held, which concern the other five members. According to the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, this prevents having a board with nine new members entering office at the same time.  

Central’s election was held Thursday, Nov. 4. During this cycle, there were five open seats. 

The results concluded that two incumbents, or members seeking reelection, Edward Blankenstein and Eric Wolfgang, lost their reelection. Wolfgang had been a school board member for 20 years and served as president of the board for many of them while Blankenstein served for 4. Gregory Lewis was the only member who ran for re-election and won his seat back. 

As for new members, Edwin Speed, Jodi Grothe, Vickie Guth and Kyle King took up the four remaining seats.

Speed is a father of two current Central students.  According to Speed, he decided to run because his friends asked him to. 

 “As parents of students in the Central York Schools, we share common concerns with the methods and techniques that have recently been adopted at the schools,” Speed said. 

Speed’s concerns for the district include the implementation of technology. He said, “some teachers were sidelined from instruction at the rollout of the IBM Watson experiment. They were told that they were to be “learning facilitators”. As a result, students struggled…”

Grothe is also a parent of two current Central students, as well as one Central graduate. Grothe ran because she wants to ensure a safe environment, saying, “ I want to ensure safety at our schools and programs that meet the diverse needs of the district while being fiscally responsible.” 

Grothe also values being conscious of taxes. “We have to strike the right balance in doing well by the children and taxpayers,” she said. 

Guth finds taxes an important factor, saying, “Finances are always a major issue-balancing the needs of our children with the needs of district taxpayers, many of whom struggle financially.” She wants to use her experience as a CFO to help balance this problem. 

Lastly, King decided to run because as a father, he wants to help preserve safety and education. 

King said, “In the aftermath of last year’s week-long shutdown, I worked with CYSD officials and our Grant Administrator to help secure a grant of $37,000 to help ensure Central is providing a safe environment for our kids to learn.”