Former Pottsville School Board Member Hosting Another Airing of Grievances Tonight on Facebook

Former Pottsville Area school board member Scott Thomas plans to once again go live and give locals a chance to air their grievances with the school.

Tonight, he’ll be broadcasting on Facebook Live at 7 p.m. from his home in Clearwater, Fla. He’s prepared to answer questions submitted to him in the last week since the first live Q-and-A aired.

After having a question he posed to the school board last month ignored, Thomas created the “Taxpayers for a Better Pottsville Area School District” blog and Facebook page.

There’s a fever pitch among Pottsville Area School District residents as they question planned teacher and program cuts, a squandered budget surplus, and the recent decision to finance more than 4,000 solar panels.

Former Pottsville School Board Member Hosting Another Airing of Grievances Tonight on Facebook

Tonight’s broadcast starts at 7 p.m., so get your popcorn ready.

During the first live stream, Thomas was observed by several current school board members who either just watched or chimed in on the chat conversation. The video’s received more than 4,400 views and during the live event, close to 400 people were watching at once.

Questions ranged from the iPads (which Thomas reminded viewers he voted against) Pottsville Area distributes to students to the planned teacher and program cuts to the questionable solar panel decision earlier this year.

There was also intense scrutiny of Jeffrey Zwiebel, the Pottsville Area superintendent.

Thomas wonders why Zwiebel’s job performance report isn’t available to the public as required by law. It was the subject of one of his early blog posts on a new site he created to be the school’s quasi-watchdog.

He filed a Right to Know request demanding Pottsville post Zwiebel’s performance reviews. However, the school said it needed 30 more days to respond to his request.

This live stream and website started after the current school board held its first virtual public meeting during the pandemic response. It was hosted on Zoom conference software and also live streamed on Facebook.

Thomas says he submitted a question to be read during the final public comment portion of the meeting. But it wasn’t. He says his question should have been read because, though he’s not a resident any more, he still owns property in the district.

Thomas then latched on to the growing fury the public has for the entire Pottsville Area School District and started the website and the first live stream event.

Thomas served two terms on the Pottsville Area school board, from 2009-13 and from 2015 until April 2018.

Watch the First Live Stream from Taxpayers for a Better Pottsville Area School District

You can check out the live stream from last week here:

https://www.facebook.com/102062938157181/videos/270046431060825/

 

Subscribe to Coal Region Canary

Get email updates from Coal Region Canary by becoming a subscriber today. Just enter your email address below to get started!

Support Coal Region Canary

Like our reporting and want to support truly local news in Schuylkill County? Your small donations help. For as little as $5, your contribution will allow us to cover more news that directly affects you. Consider donating today by hitting the big yellow button below ...