Ce-Ce Gerlach

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Ce-Ce Gerlach

Prior offices

Allentown City School District school board At-large

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Report an officeholder change

Education

Bachelor's

Cedar Crest College

Personal

Profession

Educator

Contact

Personal website

Ce-Ce Gerlach is an at-large member of the Allentown City Board of Directors in Pennsylvania. The seat was up for general election on November 3, 2015. There was a primary election on May 19, 2015. She filed to run in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Gerlach won a nomination in both primaries. Ce-Ce Gerlach won the general election on November 3, 2015.

Allentown mayor Ed Pawlowski created the Citizens for a Better Allentown PAC to support school board candidates Elizabeth Martinez, Audrey Mathison, Marc Telesha and Charlie Thiel in the primary election. Telesha was defeated in the primary election, but the other candidates supported by the PAC faced Gerlach, Scott Armstrong, Robert Smith, and Mark Smith in the general election.

Biography

Email editor@ballotpedia.org to notify us of updates to this biography.

Gerlach earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Cedar Crest College. Her professional experience includes working as a teacher for the Children's Home of Easton.

Elections

2015

See also: Allentown City School District elections (2015)

Five of the nine seats on the Allentown City Board of Directors were up for election in the general election on November 3, 2015. There was a primary election on May 19, 2015. The seats represent the district at-large.

Incumbents Ce-Ce Gerlach (D/R), Elizabeth Martinez (D), Robert Smith (D/R) and Charlie Thiel (D/R) won re-election to their seats. Newcomer Audrey Mathison (D) also won. Incumbent Scott Armstrong (R) and Mark Smith (R) were defeated in the general election.

Candidates Jonah Adamcik (D/R), Carmen Cheriz (D), Frank Nickischer (D), Timothy Ramos (D/R) and Marc Telesha (D/R) were defeated in the primary elections.

Results

Allentown City School District, At-Large, General Election, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic/Republican	Ce-Ce Gerlach Incumbent	19.9%	7,158
	Democratic/Republican	Robert Smith Incumbent	17.5%	6,317
	Democratic/Republican	Charlie Thiel Incumbent	16.8%	6,037
	Democratic	Elizabeth Martinez Incumbent	13.4%	4,846
	Democratic	Audrey Mathison	12.8%	4,596
	Republican	Mark Smith	10.3%	3,704
	Republican	Scott Armstrong Incumbent	9.4%	3,383
Total Votes				36,041
Source: 'Tiffany Rouse, "Email correspondence with Lehigh County Chief Clerk of Registration and Elections Timothy Bento," December 17, 2015

Allentown City School District, At-Large Democratic Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Ce-Ce Gerlach Incumbent	16.2%	2,266
	Democratic	Elizabeth Martinez Incumbent	11.3%	1,581
	Democratic	Charlie Thiel Incumbent	10.7%	1,500
	Democratic	Audrey Mathison	9.8%	1,366
	Democratic	Robert Smith Incumbent	9.5%	1,335
	Democratic	Mark Smith	8.7%	1,215
	Democratic	Scott Armstrong Incumbent	6.7%	931
	Democratic	Frank Nickischer	6.7%	931
	Democratic	Marc Telesha	6.5%	909
	Democratic	Carmen Cheriz	4.8%	666
	Democratic	Timothy Ramos	4.7%	651
	Democratic	Jonah Adamcik	4.6%	640
Total Votes				13,991
Source: Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, "Municipal Primary - May 19, 2015," accessed July 7, 2015Ballotpedia confirmed these results are official by phone.

Allentown City School District, At-Large Republican Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Robert Smith Incumbent	16.2%	956
	Republican	Ce-Ce Gerlach Incumbent	15%	884
	Republican	Scott Armstrong Incumbent	13.9%	819
	Republican	Charlie Thiel Incumbent	11.5%	676
	Republican	Mark Smith	11%	646
	Republican	Audrey Mathison	7.7%	451
	Republican	Elizabeth Martinez Incumbent	6.7%	397
	Republican	Jonah Adamcik	6.7%	394
	Republican	Marc Telesha	6.7%	393
	Republican	Timothy Ramos	4.6%	271
Total Votes				5,887
Source: Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, "Municipal Primary - May 19, 2015," accessed July 7, 2015Ballotpedia confirmed these results are official by phone.

Funding

Gerlach reported no contributions or expenditures to the Lehigh County Voter Registration Department in the election.

Endorsements

Gerlach received an official endorsement from the Lehigh County AFL-CIO.

Campaign themes

2015

Candidate website

Gerlach highlighted the following issues on her campaign website:

“	Five Issues Top My Priority List: Dropout Prevention One of my proudest accomplishments is my work on Dropout Prevention. When compared with other PA public school districts, the Allentown School District (ASD) has the 2nd highest dropout rate. ASD’s dropout rate is higher than the Philadelphia, Erie, Reading, Scranton, Lancaster and Pittsburgh Districts. During 2012-2013, 402 students dropped out; the year before, 539 students dropped out. Over the last 3 years, 1,302 students have dropped out of ASD. These young people cost us priceless social and economic capital. This is a crisis. I responded to this crisis by introducing my “Dropout Prevention” Resolution, which sparked the District’s renewed focus on dropouts. The ASD now works with Communities in Schools (CIS) to surround each student by a network of support in the schools and community. CIS is a leader is dropout prevention and has the capability to provide additional resources to the district. The district started implementing the CIS “Integrated Services” model in 2015 and will continuously monitor and evaluate its effectiveness. CIS is only part of the solution. There is so much more to do. In my next term I will lead the district to: • Establish a night school • Create a re-engagement center for dropouts to earn their degrees or GEDs • Expand the GAIN & ELECT programs • Increase Credit Recovery options • Increase Family Outreach activity Early Education I support Early Education, as my record shows: • I voted against the elimination of Pre-Kindergarten in our schools. • I supported the expansion of full day Kindergarten. Pre-Kindergarten It is our moral and educational responsibility to ensure that all children are ready to start school. What's more, it makes fiscal sense. For every dollar spent on early education, there is a $7 return because of decreased need for special and remedial education, and interventions. During my next term I will advocate for developing partnerships with organizations such as Promise Neighborhoods, Child Services for Children and Head Start. Full Day Kindergarten Research shows that children in full day programs make greater gains in math and reading than children in half-day programs. Far too many children enter schools unprepared with the basic skills. Children that have never had a book read to them, held a pair of scissors, or learned how to share and take turns are left behind before they even start. I will promote universal full-day kindergarten in the school district, so every building that offers kindergarten would offer the full-day option. Focus on Classrooms, Cut Administration Currently we have 83 administrators; 21 are in Central Administration with little-to-no student contact. Many grants require us to create administrative positions but when the grant ends, the positions continue through use of District funds. In 2013 and 2014, I supported eliminating Central Administration positions that are not essential to ASD functioning. During my next term, I'll propose a resolution to examine Administration staffing needs. Over the past five years our administration has increased, while our school staff decreased. Consolidating five positions would make more than $500,000 available to invest in our students. Your tax dollars should be spent in the schools, not on high-salary administrative positions. Rebuild the Allentown School District We have lost 400 teachers and countless support staff. Class sizes have increased, resources have decreased. In 2013, with the support of my fellow board members, we were able to bring back five ESL teachers (English as a Second Language). Special Education requires strict adherence to state and Federal guidelines that, if not followed, could cost the District thousands. In my next term, I'll propose the District conduct a “Results-Based Analysis” to determine which programs were effective and worth bringing back. Key steps I will support: • Centralized enrollment • District-wide community marketing plan • Leadership (succession) statistics • Quarterly employment trend data regarding District capacity Restore Arts Programs When the arts faced complete elimination in 2013, I introduced and got passed my “Arts at the Core” Resolution; arts have not been reduced further since. Legislation created by the Resolution calls for: formation of strategic partnerships, retaining, training and highly-qualified arts teachers. Arts should not always be “first on the chopping block” during every budget cycle. Numerous studies make clear that students who participate in rigorous, sequential, standards-based arts education develop the ability to innovate, communicate and collaborate. Arts education increases test scores, lowers dropout rates and helps close the achievement and opportunity gaps for students from low income families. Arts contribute to our cognitive development, including spatial-temporal abilities, verbal skills, memory and spatial reasoning. The arts bring us together. They are our universal language.	”
—Ce-Ce Gerlach's campaign website (2015)

What was at stake?

2015

There were five seats up for election in the Allentown City School District. While the incumbents of those seats ran for re-election, a political action committee started by Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski (D) backed only two of the incumbents. The candidates supported by the PAC filed to run in the Democratic and Republican primaries but were identified by the PAC as Democrats.

The PAC was shut down after the FBI began an investigation into contributions made by a local developer that were allegedly in exchange for city contracts.

Issues in the election

Citizens for a Better Allentown PAC

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawloski

Despite most candidates running in both parties' primaries as a result of cross-filing, partisan lines were clearly drawn in the 2015 primary election for school board. Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, along with State Reps. Michael Schlossberg (D-22) and Peter Schweyer (D-132), created a political action committee called Citizens for a Better Allentown to support candidates running for the five open school board seats and three open city council seats. The candidates supported by the PAC were Elizabeth Martinez, Audrey Mathison, Marc Telesha and Charlie Thiel. All of the candidates supported by the PAC were identified as Democrats.

Incumbents Ce-Ce Gerlach, Scott Armstrong and Robert Smith were not endorsed by the PAC. Armstrong and Smith identified as Republicans, but Gerlach identified as a Democrat. All three incumbents have had disagreements with the mayor in regard to his Neighborhood Improvement Zone project, which promoted downtown revitalization through tax incentives.

Armstrong had the following response to the news that he was not being supported by the PAC:

“	The mayor controls the city, now he wants to control the school district? Pawlowski is supporting those people because he can get exactly what he wants from them.	”
—Scott Armstrong, 2015,

Smith told reporters that he did not take it personally, and Gerlach gave no comment regarding the situation.

Three of the candidates endorsed by Citizens for a Better Allentown won nominations and advanced to the general election. Elizabeth Martinez and Audrey Mathison both won a nomination in the Democratic primary. Charlie Thiel won nominations in both primaries. Marc Telesha did not advance to the general election.

Shortly after the primary election, the FBI began an investigation into Mayor Pawlowski and his involvement with potentially unlawful city contracts. A local developer pleaded guilty in September 2015 to contributing to the mayor's PAC in exchange for contracts from the city.

Since the FBI investigation began, the PAC was shut down and the candidates who were previously supported by the PAC received no more funds. A local political consultant who allegedly supplied the information to the FBI that led to the indictment of the developer shut down his office and moved out of his house the day after the FBI issued subpoenas to people within the city. As of October 2015, the mayor had not been charged with any crime.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Ce-Ce Gerlach Allentown City School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Ce-Ce Gerlach - Google News

See also

• Allentown City School District, Pennsylvania
• Allentown City School District elections (2015)
• Embroiled incumbents see differing outcomes in May 19 school board elections across five states (May 21, 2015)
• Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
• What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)

External links

Suggest a link

• Allentown City School District
• Office website
• Campaign website
• Campaign Facebook page
• Twitter page
• LinkedIn page