President and Vice-President of the Spring-Ford School Board are running for Re-Election as a Bi-Partisan Team

With all of the animosity between the Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress, it's refreshing to see two individuals, from opposing  political parties, that have been extremely successful during the last four years in moving the Spring-Ford School District forward, from where it was previously.

I have personally come to know both Tom DiBello and Joe Ciresi during the past four years.  Although Tom (who is a registered Republican), and Joe (who is a registered Democrat) come from different political backgrounds, they have shown the Spring-Ford Community, that opposites can attract each other, rather than act like oil and water.

They have taken turns over these past four years as President and Vice-President of the Spring-Ford School Board, and between the two of them and their seven other colleagues on the Board, they have propelled the District into the top 6% of Pennsylvania's schools, and were recognized by the Philadelphia Inquirer as one of the best district's in the area.

As the Chairman of the Limerick Democratic Committee, you would think that I couldn't support a registered Republican for office,  but in regards to school district races, in the Primary elections, the candidates running, are cross-filed and can run on both the Democratic and Republican tickets. The reason for this, is that these elected positions are supposed to be non-political. The School Board members are supposed to put political differences aside, and do what is right for the students and the community as a whole.

Joe Ciresi was successful in the Spring primaries, and won both the Democratic and Republican elections; his name will appear on both the Democratic and Republican ballots on November 5th. Tom DiBello was successful in winning the Democratic Primary, but unfortunately lost the Republican Primary by only seven votes, and will only appear on the Democratic Ballot.

Because Tom  supported his Democratic colleague, he has been ostracized by the local Republican Party. It appears that they preferred to support previous Republican School Board members who lost re-election, after serving many years on the School Board, which had financially ran the School District into the ground. In addition, a last minute personal attack and negative campaigning by his challenger is showing voters that in politics, civility is thrown out the window with the goal of winning regardless of fair and ethical standards.

During Joe & Tom's tenure on the School Board, they were successful in achieving the following accomplishments:

·         Reduced more than $60 million from their inherited debt of $275 from previous boards

·         Eliminated more than $15 million in deficit spending

·         Reduced taxes to their lowest rates in Spring-Ford history

·         Continue to expand educational guidelines to enable their students to globally compete

·         Added STEM, global studies and additional AP courses

·         Enhanced building security to ensure the safety of the students

The two of them have promised that in another term on the Spring-Ford School Board, that they will continue to make Spring-Ford a shining example of what education should be. They have also pledged and are dedicated to reducing the debt that was incurred by previous boards, and to work on reducing property taxes.

There's an old saying, "If it ain't broke, Don't fix it".

Both Tom DiBello and Joe Ciresi have shown that by working together as a team, good things can happen, and together they BOTH deserve to be re-elected to another term on the Spring-Ford School Board.