Parkland School Board candidates endorsed the district’s expansion plans and said artificial intelligence deserves a place in the curriculum as they participated in Monday’s League of Women Voters Forum sponsored by PBS 39.
Democrats Alyssa Beckwith, Jon Macklin and Matthew Weimann are running against Republicans David Caruth, David Hein and George Rivera for Parkland’s four open school board seats. Beckwith and Hein are cross-filed.
At Monday’s forum, candidates repeatedly emphasized their desire to maintain Parkland’s high academic standards and said investments are worth it to address growing enrollment and provide opportunities for students.
“The ultimate goal is to ensure that Parkland continues to be a high-performing public school system,” Macklin said.
Although all candidates endorsed the district’s expansion plans, several spoke of a desire to provide oversight of contracts. Hein, an incumbent with 12 years of experience on the board, said contracts have been carefully reviewed and monitoring will continue.
Rivera sounded a note of opposition to expansion plans, arguing that upgrades to administrative offices are an unnecessary expense and questioning whether library and athletic facility renovations could be pared down or eliminated.
There was little opposition to the idea of incorporating AI into the district’s curriculum.
“I think AI is a tool, just like other tools that have evolved in education,” Beckwith said.
Beckwith said she uses AI “all the time” at work and in her personal life, and she advocated for educating students on proper usage to avoid replacing critical thinking or creativity.
Caruth said he’d loaded years of school board minutes into AI to generate action plans on issues important to the district. Beyond teaching students how to use AI responsibly, Caruth said district staff could use the technology to improve accounting, human resources work and data analysis.
“AI is not going anywhere,” Caruth said.
The best jobs on the market right now are AI programmers, Weimann said, calling AI a “personal secretary in my pocket” and saying students need to learn how to ask better questions to make the most of chatbots’ capabilities.
Restaurant manager Rivera said he’s seen too many young employees outsource their thinking and encouraged the school board to regulate AI usage in students’ early years.
The district piloted who complete training modules on the ethical and effective use of AI.
School safety among priorities
Campus safety ranked as a high priority among candidates, who agreed that the school board should continue to invest in tools such as security cameras and school resource officers.
There should be a full-time, dedicated school resource officer on every campus, Caruth said. He also advocated for addressing camera blind spots and for third-party vetting of hires.
Hein said the district has had success securing vestibules, installing gun detection technology and signing agreements with local police.
Mental health infrastructure also deserves support, Beckwith said, arguing that students need to feel safe raising issues.
Anti-bullying work has been effective and should continue, Weimann said.
Rivera expanded the safety discussion to include speed deterrence, saying speed bumps and signs are needed to protect pedestrians around district elementary schools.
Addressing divisive issues
Candidates disagreed on whether or not the school board’s current levels of consensus indicate a healthy level of debate.
“The school board today is unfortunately complacent,” Caruth said.
Discussions should include more data analysis, Caruth said, noting that he’s not afraid to be a “thorn in their side” if board members need fresh ideas.
Hein noted that consensus votes during board meetings do not reflect the hard work done in committee meetings.
“We push back,” Hein said, adding that board members delay votes and ask for more information when necessary.
Macklin backed up Hein, saying committee meetings feature robust debates with expertise from subject-matter experts and district administrators.
Ultimately, civil discourse is needed to navigate disagreements, Rivera said. “Sometimes you have to remove your pride to make progress.”
Candidates expressed a desire to listen to community members when divisive issues arise, noting that their actions must be directed by state and federal regulations.
“I will listen to the law,” Caruth said. “I will not question it.”
Engaging with outside experts can help board members gain context on complicated issues and address the needs of all stakeholders, Macklin said.
“We have to make sure that everyone is treated fair and equally and there is no favoritism whatsoever,” Macklin said.
Board members shouldn’t give in to drama or pettiness, Rivera said.
“You have to focus on the message and not the delivery,” Rivera said.
The election is Nov. 4. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 20.
Note: After the primary, Patrick Foose stepped aside and the Lehigh County Republican Committee nominated David Caruth.
Primary election 2025: Meet the candidates running for Parkland School Board
