Roy Heim has stepped down as a member of Blue Mountain’s school board.
His resignation letter was read aloud at a special meeting of the board on Wednesday night. In that letter, he blamed “ongoing conflict created by certain board members combined with what I believe to be the contradictory and disingenuous communication” as reasons he believes it is “impossible for me to continue to serve effectively.”
The remaining board members voted 8-0 to accept his resignation. However, there were questions raised with regard to how the resignation process was handled, including how it was presented to the public and other board members.
Now, the search for his replacement has begun and the board, as it stands now, has 30 days to decide who it wants to replace Heim. If they can’t reach a majority vote on Heim’s replacement, any resident can petition the Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas to have a judge rule on the next board member.
Heim’s Letter
Heim was absent from Wednesday’s meeting, which was called last week. In his letter, which was given to board president Michelle Vesay, according to her, he went on to say that “Too often, productive discussion has been overshadowed by unnecessary disagreement, mixed messages, and behavior that undermines trust and cooperation among board members.
“I believe these circumstances have negatively impacted the board’s ability to focus on its primary responsibility of serving the students, staff, and taxpayers in the Blue Mountain School District,” he added. “I believe it’s in everyone’s best interest that step away from my position. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have served the district and the community.”
At the board’s June meeting, Heim was visibly displeased with four board members who voted against adopting the district’s 2026-27 budget, which enacted a 5% property tax increase. He said of those voting against the budget, “You all sit and say you don’t want to spend money but you spend money all the time and then when you get in public, you don’t want to spend it. It is, quite frankly, it’s B.S. Stick to your words. Do what you said. I told you I’m not voting for this bond unless we’re going to raise taxes and everybody in the room said we’re going to do it. I’m done listening to all this nonsense.”
Heim accused those who voted against the budget – Becky Miller, Megan Meisner, Krista Strause, and Rosanne Zelusky – of being OK with spending when the board is behind closed doors, and pointed to their vote to approve a $12 million bond over an $8 million bond to make two major roof repairs on school buildings and fund renovations district-wide. However, he said last month, those same members couldn’t “stand (their) ground” when they were faced with an angry or concerned public at meetings. (READ: Blue Mountain School Board Members Clash, Narrowly Approve 5% Property Tax Hike)
After accepting his resignation, board member Timothy Grube expressed his frustration with Heim leaving. He said, “Roy has done more for this board in the time that he has been on this board than any board member I have served with without question.
“You want to question his motives, the backhanded compliments, all the things that I’ve heard are ridiculous,” Grube added.
He credited Heim with establishing a 10-year financial plan for the district and a 10-year maintenance plan for Blue Mountain facilities. That 10-year plan, which Heim presented to the public in recent months and which led to the district adopting the 12-year bond to pay for several of those maintenance punch-list items – like two new roofs on school buildings – also suggested that Blue Mountain may have to raise property taxes numerous times of the next decade to afford them.
“Unfortunately, this board has driven off a very knowledgable, very successful board member who has done more for this board than any member I have served with, including myself,” Grube said.
Vesay said she echoed Grube’s comments.
“I totally agree with you. He is a great loss to this board,” she said.
Resignation Process, Secrecy Questioned
Before accepting Heim’s resignation, several board members – namely those who Heim was likely referencing in his letter – expressed their own frustration with how the process was handled internally and how it was presented to the public.
Strause said that up until Wednesday’s meeting, members hadn’t been provided Heim’s letter and hadn’t even been told who was resigning.
“This situation is a mess and I’m embarassed to even be a part of it,” Strause said.
Leading up to the meeting, Blue Mountain notified subscribers to its Eagle Express email newsletter of a “potential resignation” of a board member but didn’t include the name of the elected official. Further, when Coal Region Canary emailed board members individually and via a singular address that forwards the message to everyone’s individual email, only four responses were received – from Strause, Miller, Zelusky, and Meisner – indicating they weren’t resigning.
Vesay explained that she heard from Heim in late July about his intent to resign. She said she asked him to reconsider but he replied that she’d be receiving his resignation letter on Aug. 4, the day before the advertised special meeting.
“He also said to me that he wanted to tell people in his own way. That is why I didn’t announce who is resigning,” Vesay said. “I didn’t want to make it public what the name was until I was getting that resignation letter. That’s why you didn’t know, Krista, because Roy asked me not to tell people and let him tell people on his own.”
Special Election in 2027
Heim was re-elected to serve another 4-year term on Blue Mountain’s school board in 2025. That term was to expire in 2029. However, since his resignation was effective before the next municipal election, the vacancy he created means it’ll appear on the 2027 Municipal General Election ballot as a 2-year seat in a special election.
That means there will be six seats up for grabs in that election, though the one for Heim’s seat will only be for two years, to fill out the rest of his unexpired time.
Interim Replacement
In the meantime, Blue Mountain needs to find Heim’s interim replacement. Upon accepting the resignation, the district’s new SolicItor Brian Boland, of Kozloff Stoudt Attorneys in Wyomissing, explained that a 30-day “shot clock” starts ticking. The remaining board members have those 30 days of exclusivity to appoint a replacement to Heim’s seat.
If the board can’t come to a consensus in that time, any Blue Mountain resident may petition Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas to compel a judge to name a replacement. The school board can still appoint a replacement up until a judge’s order is signed.
But on Wednesday, some board members – again, namely those at whom Heim was likely expressing frustrations in his resignation letter – expressed their own frustrations with how the district was handling that as well. Ultimately, the board did not immediately name a replacement but some thought that was also the intended purpose of Wednesday’s meeting.
A solicitation for potential replacement candidates was included in the Eagle Express emails notifying subscribers of the possible open seat on the board but no deadline was given. Boland explained to the board that there is no formal process that must be followed to naming a replacement – such as legal notices or deadlines – other than running up against the “shot clock” as he called it.
Still, Miller said she had two names of potential candidates who couldn’t make Wednesday’s special meeting and believed it was unfair for the board to move forward without hearing from them as well.
“I just think there’s a lot of gray area with how it was done,” Miller said.
On the agenda for the special meeting were slots for interviews of potential replacements and a swearing-in of that replacement. And indeed, several candidates did attend the meeting and presented short “elevator pitches” on why they should be considered for Heim’s remaining term on the board: Alicia Keller, Brandi LaFountain, Mike Zvalaren, Krista Kantner, Kim Breiner, William Chapman, Harry Steinbaecher, and Marie Riegel.
Boland blindly selected the names of those candidates – which were written or typed on small strips of paper – from a custom-made Longaberger basket. No board member was given a chance to ask questions of any of the candidates, per Vesay’s instructions prior to even accepting Heim’s resignation.
Vesay defended the process implemented on Wednesday by saying “there was no push to make anybody make a decision this evening.” When questioned about the agenda items, it was Boland who said he wanted them on the agenda in case the board did decide to make a decision on a replacement. He said the board did not have an option to amend the meeting agenda that night to add a vote for a replacement.
While everyone listened to the presentations, several board members again hit back against the process and said they weren’t ready to appoint a replacement so quickly, mostly because they didn’t know enough about some of the candidates and didn’t believe enough time and notice was given to the public to express interest. Other members said they were ready to make a decision on a replacement right away.
Barring another special meeting being called, the board has two opportunities at which they can appoint a new member within its 30-day exclusivity window, on Aug. 17 at its Committee of the Whole meeting and on Aug. 24 at its regular monthly board meeting. However, when John Campomizzi Sr. said he would not be able to make the meeting on the 17th, Vesay told him no vote would be taken that night unless all members were present. A simple majority of members is all that’s required to approve a new member.
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