Qualified Centennial Superintendent Candidates Slim: School Board

WARMINSTER, PA — During its search for the next Centennial schools superintendent, the Bucks County Intermediate Unit received 32 applications.

But only a handful of candidates were qualified for the school district's top job, officials revealed at last week's Centennial School Board meeting.

The Centennial School Board held two rounds of interviews before scores of five of the nine members had former Central Bucks Schools Superintendent Abram Lucabaugh as the top choice to replace retiring Schools Superintendent Dana T. Bedden.

"We had many candidates. As a board, we felt that any candidate without superintendent experience would not be interviewed," School Board President Mary Alice Brancato told the public at last week's school board meeting. "We wanted someone with superintendent experience."

The superintendent position was advertised from March 5-23.

The Bucks County Intermediate Unit — which conducted the superintendent search — received applications from candidates in Arizona, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Virginia, and Wisconsin, besides Pennsylvania.

"I think the process could have been better. We had very few doctors in the mix. Two of the finalists were unemployed as superintendents. One was from out of state and did not ever work in the state of Pennsylvania," School Director Jane Lynch.

Lynch told Patch Tuesday that the elimination process was "very easy."

"The choices I thought were very limited," Lynch said. "We had a lot of high school principals and candidates from New Jersey. One guy was superintendent for a month."

At the meeting, School Director Charley Martin said he believed the ranking was "much closer than alleged."

"It was a relatively close ranking among the finalists. Dr. Lucabaugh came out with the highest ranking, but we had someone else who was very close in the rankings," said Martin, who did not reveal who the other candidate was.

The school board heard from numerous residents in a packed room of over 100 people at last Tuesday night's meeting, with many saying that Lucabaugh is not a good fit based on his prior leadership experience.

The selection, though, isn't a done deal despite an official announcement by the Bucks IU.

The school district will hold a community forum about Lucabaugh's appointment on Thursday.

Then, on May 27, the school board will vote on his employment agreement. Lucabaugh needs five votes from the nine-member board.

Concerned Citizens of the Centennial School District are expressing "strong opposition" to the hiring of Lucabaugh to replace Dana T. Bedden as schools superintendent. Bedden is retiring once his five-year contract expires at the end of June.

They are citing "his troubling and costly record" of irresponsibility, discrimination, censorship, and litigation during his tenure leading the Central Bucks School District.

The Central Bucks School Board reached a more than $700,000 severance agreement with Lucabaugh that was approved by the outgoing school board in November 2023.

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