Next month’s special election for a Unionville-Chadds Ford
School Board seat brings Gregg Lindner back into the political spectrum.
Lindner lost in a primary race two years ago but was appointed to the board in
August as an interim replacement for Ed Wandersee.
There are two years remaining in Wandersee’s term, and
Lindner was appointed in favor of Frank Murphy to serve through this year.
Lindner and Murphy will vie in November for the remainder of the term.
Lindner, 53, is an executive vice president of Scarborough
Research, a media research firm headquartered in New York. He’s lived in Chadds
ford for 10 years.
According to Lindner, respect and poor communication are at
issue with the board.
“One of the top issues is the need to restore respect and
civility among the board… We’ve had a small number of people, maybe one or two,
that have spoken in what I would say is not with the greatest respect and
civility that should occur at a school board meeting. And I think part of it is
the ability of the board to make sure that they communicate within a wide
community with that kind of respect and civility.”
Lindner said it’s both school board and audience members who
have been out of line.
“It’s come from both. We certainly have people in the
audience that represent a certain viewpoint and sometimes that viewpoint is not
put across with a lot of respect for people that are on the board or that are
doing this on a voluntary capacity. “
Lindner said it’s OK to be critical, but the criticism needs
to be done in a more civil manner than has been used recently.
“There’ve also been statements by a board member or two
which, to me, have kind of broken out of civility among the board. And that has
to be re-established. It’s not a good blueprint for the community to not have
that kind of respect.”
Upcoming issues, he said, include another teachers’
contract. One was just approved, but that was only a one-year contract.
“It’s important that the demeanor of the people that are
negotiating in that contract also be done with respect,” Lindner said.
There’s going to be continued effort in reviewing contracts,
such as the teachers’ contract. He said he wants to be part of that negotiation
process and that he is qualified.
“There will be a team of people
who’ll work on that. I believe that my background in running the day to day ops
of a business that’s about the exact same size of the school board in regards
to revenue and also people is something that I have a background in doing and I
think I’d be an excellent person to be on that team.”
Lindner summarized his position
with a statement:
“The community should know that
I’m a person that’s been a resident of Chadds Ford for 10 years. I’ve been
involved in school board issues for the majority of the time that I’ve been in
Chadds Ford. I’m a volunteer on numerous community activities, coaching and
different kind of outreach programs. My business background makes me a good
choice to be on the board. There’s not a lot of business background that’s on
the board… There are programs that are going to come up and issues that are
going to come up and you need to have the right demeanor and the right
quantitative abilities to be able to analyze the situations and come up with
different approaches in order to meet what are fairly complex issues.”
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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