Oley Valley School Board censures new member, gets sued to remove 5 members, then tries to discuss a new budget

Censure is latest in a string of controversies under new leadership

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 Jordan Wilkie / WITF

Protesters outside Oley Valley High School ahead of a district board meeting, calling attention to the appointment of a new board member and violations of the Sunshine Act.

Parents, former students and community members in the Oley Valley School District protested ahead of Wednesday night’s school board meeting in Berks County over a lack of transparency in board decisions and the appointment of a new board member who had hate speech displayed on her property. 

During public comment at the start of the meeting, Jessica Grater, a district mom and lawyer, served the Oley Valley School District with a lawsuit seeking to remove five members from the board. 

Grater is suing on behalf of 27 Oley Valley voters to remove the district’s newest board member and the four members who voted to appoint her. The lawsuit references the Pennsylvania School Code, which allows for the removal of board members due to the refusal to perform duties. 

At the time of new member Christina Moyer’s appointment to the board on May 8, she had the words “Heil Hitler” and a swastika in faded paint on her garage that abuts the district’s high school. 

Grater’s lawsuit states Moyer’s display of that language violates the board’s conduct requirements. Her lawsuit alleges the appointment was done in violation of the Sunshine Act, which governs how public meetings are run, and that the members who voted in favor of the appointment also violated their duties to the board.

But in response to complaints, the Oley Valley school board said it did not have the grounds to remove Moyer. Instead, it voted to censure Moyer during its Wednesday night meeting. 

The censure stated the district opposes the “display of a swastika and Nazi slogan on her property” and called for Moyer to apologize and make clear the display does not represent her beliefs.

As one example of several confusing procedural decisions the board has made in recent meetings, Moyer made her statement before the vote for her censure requiring her to apologize. It is not clear if she will be expected to issue another statement, or if the first one sufficed. 

“I am not a racist. I am not an extremist. Nor am I at all a Hitler worshiper,” Moyer said. 

Jordan Wilkie / WITF

New appointee to the Oley Valley School Board Christina Moyer had the words “Heil Hitler” and a swastika on her garage in faded paint for several years. She said the words and symbol bled through a previous paint job and she has since painted over them again.

She said the display was already on the garage door when she bought the property 10 years ago, so she painted over it. She added it must have since bled through. As a single mother with a full-time job, covering it again “was just not a priority,” she said. Moyer said she never received a complaint until her appointment to the board. 

Moyer was appointed in a roll call vote to fill one of two recent vacancies with the support from board members Sharon Kershner, Maria Bogdanova-Peifer, Mary Harris and Candice Corle. Moyer missed the next board meeting on May 15, when board president Jamie Freed notified the public she had verbally issued an intent to resign. 

She has since changed her mind and will serve.

Moyer also said she has never been involved with a student inappropriately, that other allegations made during public comments and online were untrue, and that she had never been disciplined by the district. 

Rachel Winterstine, an Oley Valley parent, spoke on behalf of a former student who stood next to her during public comment. She alleged Moyer engaged in unprofessional conduct toward that student while previously working as an aide with the district. 

A growing list of controversies 

The district has recently faced several high-profile resignations, including board president Zachary Fatkin and board member Benjamin Raker. District Superintendent Gina Finnerty left to take a job as director of human resources in the Quakertown Community School District. In April 2023, Mary Lou Parry resigned from the board over what she called vitriol among members. 

Moyer’s appointment is the latest in a number of controversies over the last two years since Fatkin, Aaron Keller and Maria Bogdanova-Peifer won election to the board in November 2021. All three are endorsed by the Berks County GOP, though at the time they remained in the minority. 

In November 2023, conservative members won a majority on the board. 

Nicole Freed, district mom and wife to the current board president, spoke during public comments, saying she was representing her own opinion and not that of her husband. 

“I am appalled at what many of you have done to this school board and to this district,” she said. 

She added the board was making decisions based on politics and not what was best for students, and she therefore feared for the next election, coming in 2025. 

In February, members voted 5-4 to rescind a contract with the American Red Cross that previously allowed the middle and high schools to be used in the event of an emergency or disaster situation. Before the vote, Harris said she was concerned about how the Red Cross gives aid to migrants near the U.S. border with Mexico, a narrative that was making the rounds among national Republican lawmakers and media sites like Fox News, the Daily Caller and the Washington Examiner. 

Bogdanova-Peifer said she was concerned about “blood-borne pathogens” of people who could be housed during an emergency and that she does not “support any company that facilitates invasion of the United States, period.” The Red Cross says it does not prevent or encourage migration, but provides humanitarian aid. That work is separate from local emergency shelter support per the district’s contract. 

Kershner, Raker and Jamie Freed joined Harris and Bogdanova-Peifer to cancel the contract. 

When discussing a possible school merger with Antietam, a district with a 60% minority and a 55% economically disadvantaged student body, Bogdanova-Peifer said they were “a different animal.” 

In a 2022 meeting, Bogdanova-Peifer and Keller made statements about LGBTQ+ individuals — expressing concern over the district hiring a transgender or nonbinary employee, and saying people should “leave your sexual orientation at home.” 

Moyer and Bogdanova-Peifer said the current contentious environment in board meetings was due to parents who spoke during public comments, rather than the actions of board members. 

“Where is some encouragement in this community?” Moyer said during her statement before censure. “Why not set a good example for our peers and most importantly our students? Yet, all I see here is constant expression of demeaning speech.”

Corle, the only board member who voted both to appoint Moyer and censure her, said the public was not given enough time to vet nominees before the vote. She said board president Freed was asked to share their names “well in advance” but did not do so.

In added confusion, before the May 8 roll call vote to appoint two members to the board, Freed said a nominee needed to “have greater than four” votes to be seated. Moyer received four votes, which was still a majority of the seven-member board, and was seated. 

Current board president Jamie Freed did admit to one Sunshine Act violation. On May 15, the board voted to fire former solicitor Saxton & Stump, LLC and hire the firm Levin Legal Group, P.C. before the public was given the opportunity to speak on the agenda item. 

The board voted on Wednesday to ratify that decision and rectify the public meetings violation. 

After closing its voting meeting close to 9 p.m., the board then opened a committee meeting to discuss the district’s budget, extending the meeting until almost 11 p.m. School boards must by state law finalize their budgets by June 30.

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