To the Editor:

We don’t have a negative attitude or opinion toward teachers; however, we do object to teachers serving on school boards. It is a conflict of interest. Teachers are ambassadors for the teachers’ union, and if you are aware of their agenda and what they are promoting, it is not a good format for the students. We, the taxpayers of Northampton Area School District, pay the teachers, not the union.

On that note, congratulations to Nathan Lichtenwalner, who was selected to fill the vacancy seat in Region 2 of NASD Board of Education. NASD is a diverse community, and that is also reflected in Region 2. We have many sincere and hardworking individuals - professionals, tradespeople, small-business owners, farmers, laborers, students and so on.

Before Lichtenwalner was appointed, our region was represented by two schoolteachers, and had the judges picked a different person, we could have been represented by three schoolteachers. Now this really troubled us because six of the nine members of the past school board were teachers, former teachers or had a spouse who was an educator. We have 44,000 residents in our district, and 66%, or 29,000, of them are not teachers, so we were elated we succeeded in getting some diversity to represent our region.

School board members are tasked with not only supporting the administration and other professionals who educate our children, but they are elected be transparent and to represent the residents and taxpayers of their regions fairly and without being dishonest or going back on their word. Hopefully, now we can get back to doing business as usual.

Maggie Kemp, East Allen Township

Ginny Skrapits, Northampton