Mental health counselor and veteran educator compete for Chambersburg school board seat
Six seats on the Chambersburg Area School District Board of Directors are up for election this cycle.
In the primary election on May 18, the Republican and Democratic races in Region 1 (Letterkenny, Lurgan, Greene 3, Greene 6) and Region 3 (Guilford 2, 4 and 6) are contested. Un-challenged incumbents are seeking the Region 4 (Chambersburg 5-1, Guilford 1) and Region 6 (Hamilton) seats. There are no candidates in Region 7 and Region 8, which have two-year terms.
In Region 3, a veteran local educator and school administrator and a licensed mental health counselor and district parent are vying for the seat. Both have cross-filed, meaning they will appear on both the Republican and Democratic ballots.
Unless there is a write-in campaign, there are two possible outcomes: Each candidate wins one party and both will face off again in the general election in November, or one of them wins both parties' nominations and effectively wins the seat.
To help readers learn more about them, we asked both candidates the same three questions. Here are the answers they submitted, with light editing for clarity.
Tawnya S. Hurley
Age: 35
Considering your experiences and background, why are you the best choice for this school board seat?
My experiences as a parent with a child currently enrolled in the district, having my Master’s in Mental Health Counseling, working as a Licensed Professional Counselor, and currently serving as a Regional Clinical Director for a non-profit organization have provided me with the first-hand knowledge and understanding critical for this position.
First, a parent’s perspective is vital and necessary for any engaged school board. Over the past year I wished more parents served on the board. Increased parent involvement at the board level provides the opportunity to make well-informed decisions that impact families across the district.
As a Licensed Professional Counselor and Regional Clinical Director, I have served for more than a decade, working with low-income children and families with mental health challenges. Working in their homes and communities, I have a first-hand knowledge of what our children and families’ needs are, especially during this unprecedented last year. Our world has changed; thus our children’s needs have changed. With increases in substance use, child abuse, and children’s mental health diagnoses; our school systems need to be equipped and ready to meet these challenges. My occupational and educational experiences are exactly what this board needs to lead this new initiative.
COVID-19 made this a challenging school year for everyone involved. How do you think CASD handled it, and what should have been done differently?
Over the past year, the district had to make some very difficult decisions and attempting to please everyone proved to be impossible. As a parent and advocate for children’s mental health, I believe the Administration could have been more creative in finding solutions to ensure our students and teachers could have returned to in-person learning quicker and safer. Over the past year, the re-occurring theme was teachers and staff not feeling safe to return. Many times, I listened to the board meetings and pondered the Administration’s efforts to ensure their teachers and staff’s safety. In leadership, we have had to get creative with PPE and social distancing guidelines to ensure the safety of our staff. I believe CASD could have ordered PPE and safety supplies sooner, craft creative solutions to get our students back to in-person learning quicker, and been more responsive to the teachers and staff’s safety concerns.
Additionally, input should have been gathered at the beginning of the school year to allow families the choice to send their students sooner. The district could have provided better instructions on the use of the virtual platforms and worked with parents to ensure their voices were heard and all questions answered.
Discuss the top two issues CASD is facing and how they should be addressed.
CASD will continue to face challenges as we emerge from this global pandemic. I foresee two major issues: Learning Management Systems and Increased Mental Health needs within our schools.
The district has utilized learning management systems over the past year to supplement virtual and in-person education. Moving forward these systems must be evaluated to determine the capacity they will be used in the upcoming years, as well as whether or not they are the best systems to meet our district’s needs. Additionally, focusing on improving CAVE to ensure it’s the best virtual option for families is crucial.
A second issue the district will be facing is our children’s increased mental health needs. Children are coming back to a structured environment after a year of little-to-no structure, decreased social interactions, and exposure to various adverse childhood experiences. With increases in adolescent suicide and overdoses within the last year, our district will need to plan for how to increase mental health supports to be prepared for the year(s) ahead. If elected to the school board, I bring the knowledge to enhance and prepare the district for this next set of challenges.
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Sherian M. Diller
Age: 65
Considering your experiences and background, why are you the best choice for this school board seat?
My experiences and background provide me the opportunity to go to work for change on day one. I have served as an elementary teacher, principal, director of elementary education and superintendent for Waynesboro Area School District (retired). As a life-long educator, I know the ins and outs of local school districts and am able to readily identify areas of our district that are working well and those that are not. I feel I will bring fresh perspective and new leadership to the board which will help our district move forward during these challenging times.
COVID-19 made this a challenging school year for everyone involved. How do you think CASD handled it, and what should have been done differently?
I think the district handled the pandemic very poorly; that is the main reason I am running for school board director. While I certainly understand the unprecedented nature of the decisions that needed to be made and the gravity of those decisions, I felt the district was always behind other districts. There appeared to be very little planning or creative thinking on how to tackle the tough issues the district faced this past year. More consideration should have been given to the stakeholders who were going through the daily struggles of the pandemic - students, parents, teachers, administrators and community. I also strongly feel our children and parents should have been afforded the CHOICE to send their children back to in-person instruction much, much earlier in the academic year. Despite the best efforts and devotion of our teachers and staff, our students lost a year of learning that will take many years to recover. Our children are essential and should have been treated as such.
Discuss the top two issues CASD is facing and how they should be addressed.
The number one issue CASD is facing and will continue to face for many years is helping students recover from the learning and emotional deficits caused by the disruption to their education during the pandemic. Collaborative efforts from all stakeholders – parents, teachers, students and administration will be vital in getting our district back on the right track.
Another top issue is ensuring fiscal accountability and conservative budgeting practices. We need to thoroughly evaluate the budget to find and implement all opportunities to save. The district received millions of dollars in federal funding to assist during the pandemic – where did/will this money go? This money needs to be spent on getting our students and teachers SAFELY back in school to enable students to perform on grade level and be prepared for the future.
Correction: There are six seats on the Chambersburg Area school board up for election this cycle. There are no candidates for the Region 7 and Region 8 seats, which have two-year terms.
Amber South can be reached at asouth@publicopinionnews.com.