East Penn To Fill Stolz’s Vacant Director Seat Monday

With 14 candidates to choose from, the East Penn Board of School Directors will certainly have its hands full on Monday night as it interviews and selects a replacement board member to fill the seat left open by the resignation of former school director Julian Stolz last month.

Stolz resigned his position amid controversy about his relationship with a teenage East Penn student and his activity on a teen-focused social media web site. His resignation letter was posted on his blog, The Stolz Report, on Oct. 15.

Based on Pennsylvania law, a school board has 30 days to fill a vacated seat. In this case, East Penn was forced to embark on a fast-tracked application process, culminating in candidate interviews scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, prior to the regular school board meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Plus, the board plans to appoint and seat Stolz's replacement Monday night as well.

The agenda for the special meeting posted on the East Penn School District web site lists 13 candidates for the job, but School Board Charles Ballard told Patch in an email on Friday that there will actually be 14 candidates.

“One application came in through the internal mail system and it was unclear when it had been dropped off, so we included it in the list for fairness,” Ballard writes.

Ballard says that in his opinion the size of this applicant pool is unusual.

“This is the largest number of people applying for a vacant position, that I have seen in 30 years of following the school board,” Ballard writes. “Four-six is typical. I think the issues of education and its funding are a top priority throughout Pennsylvania, and this interest in the position is part of that.

“It is very possible that some people may drop out after seeing the list of people who have applied, and how many did apply,” he writes.

The list of candidates includes names that East Penn voters may recognize, ranging from former East Penn School Board members to former candidates for the school board and Emmaus Borough Council.

The candidates, according to the special meeting agenda on the East Penn website, are:

• Paul Champagne
• Christopher Donatelli 
• George Doughty 
• Scott Forbes
• Anthony Guerrero
• Jamie Hughes
• Amy Miller 
• John Reynard
• Terry Richwine 
• Katherine Sarver 
• Trevor Schneck
• Michael Siegel 
• Ann Thompson 
• Rev. Waldemar Vinovskis