Former county jury commissioner Brookes to run with Do, Lindner for in 2015
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
Bev Brookes, left, a former area leader for the Chester County Republican Committee announced Tuesday she would run for Board of Education with current incumbent Democrats Greg Lindner and Kathleen Do.
CHADDS FORD — In a bid to create a non-partisan, “fusion” ticket, two incumbent Unionville-Chadds Ford Board of Education members, both Democrats, announced Tuesday they would run as a team with long-time former local GOP party leader Bev Brookes in the 2015 Region C race.
Kathleen Do and Gregg Lindner, elected to the board in 2011, said they would seek reelection and wanted to maintain the current “balanced” approach that they say the board enjoys currently. They said Tuesday they asked incumbent Carolyn Daniels — a Republican — to join them, but she opted to run on the GOP slate with Del Joshi.
A total of six seats, including two in Region A (East Marlborough, West Marlborough) and one in Region B (Birmingham, Newlin and Pocopson) will be on the ballot in 2015.
“We did feel that we did work well together and we certainly tended to agree more than we disagreed on most issues,” Do said. “It seemed almost a natural thing, that the three of us would just run together.”
But it was not to be, Lindner said.
“We had the discussion with her, and she asked for some time to think about it, and ultimately made a decision that she was going to run as part of the Chadds Ford Republican Party ticket,” Lindner said.
Daniels said Tuesday she would not immediately have comment on next year’s election at this time.
“Although I am as committed as ever to my community of 21 years and the students and families of our district, I would like to focus on the issues affecting our community now, before I start focusing on next year’s election,” she said.
As of this writing, no third candidate has been announced for the three open slots on the board in Region C (Chadds Ford and Pennsbury), but an announcement is expected in the coming weeks.
Brookes’ return to elective politics — she is a former Chester County Jury Commissioner, as well as a long-time Area 16 leader for the Chester County Republican Committee — came from her enduring passion for education. She explained that she was asked by local GOP leaders to run on the party ticket, but declined, as she had supported Do and Lindner in 2011 and felt they still merited her support. She didn’t again think of running until hearing that Do and Lindner were looking for a non-partisan candidate to run with them, she said.
“They’ve done a very good job, I’m very pleased that what I thought I saw in 2011 has come to fruition,” Brookes said of Do and Lindner. “They’re very good, very dynamic members of the school board, and I couldn’t run against them.”
After consulting with her husband, Brookes said, she felt like she wanted to run, and run with Do and Lindner. She cited her 34 years of experience and history with the school district – having recruited a number of school board members over the years and followed the district closely — and the fact that she has four grandchildren attending district schools.
Brookes notes that, as a retiree, she is able to see both the needs of those on fixed or limited incomes — and the need to limit tax increases as much as possible without hurting education quality — and yet remains passionate about education and the high quality of the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District.
“I love education, and I think we have to find a balance between a quality education and affordable taxes,” she said.
Do, in her first term on the board, has been vocal on issues relating to policy — bullying specifically — and has opposed outsourcing of support staff. The Pennsbury resident notes she is now putting new focus on issues such as student stress and academic integrity standards.
Lindner, who served an interim term on the board previously, but lost a reelection bid in 2009, returned to the board after winning in 2011. As board vice president, he championed the late bus service — currently in pilot testing, but already popular — at no additional cost to the taxpayers, and has used his business negotiation skills as part of the board’s negotiating team for the recent contract talks with the district’s teachers.
Both note that despite claims to the contrary before they were elected, they have both worked to keep tax increases modest and manageable, while maintaining academic excellence and leaving the district in a stronger financial position than a number of neighboring districts.
Brookes was a founding member of the Unionville-Chadds Ford Education Foundation — which started in 1995 — and and served as the organization’s treasurer for its first five years. She also has more than three decades of leadership in politics, in addition to serving as a local party leader, she was member of the state Republican Committee, and co-chaired Gov. Tom Ridge’s 1998 Chester County campaign.
