ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 It\u2019s unclear whether Allentown Schools Superintendent Carol Birks lives in the district she leads.<\/p>\n
Members of the public questioned Birks\u2019 residency on social media in recent weeks, and school directors brought up the issue at Thursday\u2019s school board meeting.<\/p>\n
When LehighValleyNews.com asked about the topic, Birks declined to say whether she lives in Allentown.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing in my contract that says I have to live in Allentown, and I don\u2019t have to talk about where I live.”<\/p>\n
Carol Birks, Allentown Superintendent<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing in my contract that says I have to live in Allentown, and I don\u2019t have to talk about where I live,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a demonstrated track record of my commitment to the students and families of Allentown,\u201d she said. \u201cMy record speaks for itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy heart is here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Birks lived in Connecticut when she was hired as ASD\u2019s acting superintendent in 2022. <\/p>\n
She was appointed to the superintendent position in March 2023 with a four-year contract that did not include a residency requirement, but that granted the reimbursement of moving costs if she decided to relocate to Allentown.<\/p>\n
The contract said the district would reimburse Birks for moving services up to $15,000 if she relocated to a residence in \u201cthe City of Allentown, and also within the limits of the Allentown School District.\u201d<\/p>\n
Social media comments lead to tension<\/p>\n
Bob Smith, a former Allentown school director, made comments about Birks\u2019 residency on a Facebook page that he runs dedicated to discussing the Allentown School District.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know why you wouldn\u2019t want to live in the great city of Allentown,\u201d Smith told LehighValleyNews.com.<\/p>\n
Smith is running to rejoin the school board in the upcoming election. He previously served on the board for 16 years, from 2003 to 2019. <\/p>\n
Smith said that in past interviews with Allentown superintendent candidates, school directors suggested to applicants that they live in Allentown. <\/p>\n
Smith also said he would support a district policy requiring the superintendent to live in Allentown. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m more upset with the board members,\u201d Smith said. \u201cShame on them for not putting it on the contract.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, ASD solicitor Jeffrey Sultanik told LehighValleyNews.com Friday that the Pennsylvania School Code would not allow for a district policy nor a contractual agreement that requires a superintendent to live in a given area. <\/p>\n
He said there’s an exception for home rule school districts, such as those in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. Those districts operate under their region’s local charter, which grants them greater autonomy and self-governance.<\/p>\n
Allentown is not that type of district though, so residency requirements aren’t legal. <\/p>\n
Sultanik said districts like Allentown can offer incentives for superintendents to live in a district or a certain geographical area, such as a moving reimbursement. <\/p>\n
At Thursday\u2019s meeting, school Director Phoebe Harris said anyone \u201ccomplaining about where [Birks] lives\u201d should \u201cshut up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I read another word, I\u2019m coming for you,\u201d Harris said. \u201cI only got three, four more months” on the school board.<\/p>\n
Harris\u2019 term expires in December. She is not running for re-election.<\/p>\n
Harris said the public should focus more on the good work that Birks does. She pointed to a new ASD partnership with The Juilliard School in New York City that was announced Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis nonsense with the comments going on about Dr. Birks on Facebook and social media \u2014 it has to stop,\u201d school Director Jennifer Hartnett said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd just because people don’t agree with how we vote or the decisions we make, you don\u2019t get to question our integrity as a board. We all care about this district.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 It\u2019s unclear whether Allentown Schools Superintendent Carol Birks lives in the district she leads. Members…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14263,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,10808,10809,10807,10810,10811,10812,10813],"class_list":{"0":"post-14262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news","11":"tag-allentown-schools-superintendent-carol-birks","12":"tag-allentown-superintendent-birks","13":"tag-asd-superintendent","14":"tag-carol-birks-allentown","15":"tag-does-allentown-school-district-have-a-residency-requirement","16":"tag-does-carol-birks-live-in-allentown","17":"tag-jenny-roberts"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}