Doylestown Supervisor Removed From Committees After Sharing 'Hateful,' 'Destructive' Flyer

DOYLESTOWN, PA — Though a Doylestown supervisor who distributed a flyer widely regarded as racist and homophobic has not resigned her post, fellow supervisors have voted to remove her from delegate and committee liaison positions.

"I am not going to step away," Nancy Santacecilia said at the beginning of last week's meeting of the Doylestown Board of Supervisors. "I will always be a firewall for the safety of our children and our community."

Under the Pennsylvania Constitution, Santacecilia could only be removed by stepping down, short of a governor's order and a two-thirds majority vote in the state Senate.

But her power was limited in other ways last week. In a consensus by fellow supervisors, Santacecilia was stripped of her role as a delegate to the Bucks County Association of Township Officials and the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors. (All supervisors are delegates to these boards).

Board member Jennifer Herring also moved to replace her as liaison to the Veteran's Advisory Committee with board member Ryan Manion.

“Being a liaison means that you are the person who carries on the message between the board of supervisors and the volunteers in the communities," she said. "We respect and honor our volunteers. They do it because they want to be good members of our community and they want to help our township.”

That motion passed 4-1, with Santacecilia as the sole vote against. Santacecilia said she still planned to attend the group's meetings as a citizen.

Calls for Santacecilia's resignation came from community members after Central Bucks Education Association President Bill Senavaitis said she was identified in a district office in October dropping off letters that, among other accusations, claimed Senavaitis was trying to replace white Bucks County teachers because of their race.

The Bucks County Courier Times shared a copy of the flyer in November. The author of the document is unknown.

The flyer partly criticized Senavaitis for attending a Human Rights Commission meeting, asking "why is he trying to replace YOU based on your skin color and divide our community?" and saying he "align[ed] with Rise Up Doylestown and Marlene Pray - Director of the Rainbow Room and the NAACP Bucks Education chair to prompt a slate of school board candidates that will vote on policy, curriculum and the union contract for the largest suburban school district in Pennsylvania."

The Rainbow Room is a Planned Parenthood Keystone program that provides an empowering space in Bucks County for LGBTQ+ youth and allies.

"I have no hate or bias against anyone in our community," Santacecilia said in the meeting.

She also invoked, without using his name, the recent arrest of Central Bucks choir director Joseph Ohrt, who was accused of filming a former student undressing. She appeared to link her distribution of the flyer to his alleged actions.

“It is the responsibility of all leaders, in every organization that supports the school district and community, to always protect children," she said. "We have an even greater responsibility to report activities or programs that if left unchecked could ... exploit our most vulnerable youth."

Board member Dan Wood took issue with this statement in his comments.

"Referencing Mr. Ohrt to cover your actions, and what he is being accused of, is despicable," he said. "Do not hide behind these actions when what you did would have had absolutely no impact on that whatsoever."

Santacecilia also said in the meeting that "the personal attacks have been atrocious."

Manion then said in her supervisor comments that she had received an anonymous threatening letter after speaking against Santacecilia, and that she knew she was not the only one.

"What happened in October was a unethical act by a sitting supervisor, and I am not going to be intimidated for speaking out against it," she said.

Several public commenters also spoke against Santacecilia. One was Kimberly Cambra, the director of the CB Cares Educational Foundation, who said they used to be friends.

"The fallout from what she did continues to interrupt so many people’s lives," she said. "I’m here tonight to add my name to the long list of community leaders and elected officials who call for her resignation."

Another commenter, Kevin Green, advised residents to focus on the important issues, saying: "Stay united, committed to keep these hateful and destructive words from harming others."

Another commenter appeared to speak in support of Santacecilia, saying people should not solve problems by "condemning and criticizing." That commenter, Ed Mackouse, has also been in the news recently for "derogatory comments" at a Central Bucks school board meeting.

The board will meet again on March 15. A full video of the February meeting is available online.

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