Former Central Bucks superintendent Lucabaugh tapped to lead Centennial School District
The former Central Bucks superintendent resigned in 2023 after Democrats took over the district and received a $700,000 payout.
The Centennial School District will appoint Abram Lucabaugh, the former Central Bucks superintendent who resigned in 2023 after Democrats won control of the district and was given a $700,000 payout, as its next superintendent, officials said Thursday.
The Centennial school board plans to vote on an employment agreement for Lucabaugh at its May 27 meeting, according to the Bucks County Intermediate Unit, which facilitated the district’s superintendent search process. The intermediate unit’s executive director will lead a community forum with Lucabaugh on May 22 with pre-submitted questions.
“The board is very excited and pleased to introduce Dr. Lucabaugh to our Centennial community,” board president Mary Alice Brancato said in a statement. “His experience, plans, and ideas elevated him to the top of the many candidates the board reviewed and interviewed.”
Lucabaugh said in a statement that becoming Centennial’s next superintendent “is a privilege and an honor.”
“We have important work ahead of us, and I’m confident that together, we can build an environment of excellence where every student has access, opportunity and choice to become the best version of themselves,” he said.
In Central Bucks, Lucabaugh was seen as an ally of the former Republican-led board, expressing support for policies that drew backlash, such as restricting the classroom display of Pride flags and banning “sexualized content” in library books. The board gave him a 40% raise in the summer of 2023, with a $315,000 salary that made him one of Pennsylvania’s highest-paid superintendents at the time.
He faced more opposition when he resigned days after Democrats swept the November 2023 school board elections and the outgoing Republican majority granted him a $700,000 separation agreement. Democrats initially authorized a legal challenge to that agreement, but dropped it after concluding they might not win. Lucabaugh, meanwhile, had threatened to sue the board for retaliation.
Lucabaugh, who will replace Dana Bedden as Centennial’s superintendent, was selected from a pool of 32 applicants from states including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, and from as far away as Arizona, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Wisconsin, according to the Bucks County IU. It said that “a majority” of the Centennial board — which is led by Republicans — authorized the district’s solicitor to negotiate an employment agreement with Lucabaugh.
It was not clear Thursday what Lucabaugh’s salary with Centennial would be; the district’s solicitor, Jeffrey Garton, said the employment agreement had not been finalized. Bedden’s salary last year was $221,000.
One Centennial board member, Tony Sadowski, said he had “deep concerns” about Lucabaugh’s tenure in Central Bucks, including “discriminatory policies he supported.”
“Before I even knew the candidate’s name had become public knowledge, I started receiving messages from community members to confirm the news and voice their concerns,” Sadowski, a Democrat, said in an email. He said he was “willing to listen” to Lucabaugh, but added that “division seems inevitable with this choice, which I fear is more motivated by politics than by what’s right for our kids.”
In his statement, Lucabaugh said he would host forums in the months ahead “with the purpose of listening intently, learning your priorities, and engaging in honest conversations.”
Lucabaugh began his career in education as an English teacher in the Hatboro-Horsham School District. He spent 11 years as principal of Central Bucks High School East before becoming the district’s assistant superintendent of secondary education in 2018, and then superintendent in 2021.
The Bucks IU provided a link for questions to be submitted ahead of the May 22 forum, to be held at 6 p.m. at Log College Middle School in Warminster.