Shamim & Cedric for School Board

Cedric ran a $40 million business with 100 employees. Shamim is a leading professor at Lehigh University. We have brought our combination of business, education and professional experience to the board room of the Saucon Valley School District since 2017 and are seeking your continued support in our re-election bid to keep the momentum and make sure our schools will continue to address the needs of the kids, families, and the community.

We are in particular proud of our record of accomplishments at the school. We are one of the few school districts in the nation to have been open for the full 2020-2021 school year so that parents could choose to send their students in-person full time or have them learn from home. The District is on a more sustainable financial path than it was before, and we achieved that without cutting any programs or services, while keeping school tax nearly flat. In fact Saucon Valley has expanded curricular offering during this time, by offering exciting new options to kids and families in Elementary, Middle, and High Schools, and reaching an affordable agreement for continued VoTech education. The sound financial stewardship of the district has also been achieved while we have kept the facilities up to date and made investments in our infrastructure to support the activities that we all love to see our community pursue.

Saucon Valley, like every other school district in the commonwealth continues facing economic challenge. Our Pennsylvania legislators take more from our school districts while our citizens have no more to give. Considering the limitation that we have in not being able to control what Harrisburg does, we have focused on what we can do to remedy the situation for our taxpayers. We will continue to manage our schools with business efficiency while defending taxpayers by exploring every possible way to keep our taxes in check.

Saucon Valley schools are good. Lots of great people come together every day to provide a top notch educational experience to our kids, but things can always improve. We will work to make Saucon Valley work better for all stakeholders, improve communication with our community and enhance school programs to bring distinction to our school district. This will increase our property values without adding to the budget.

Shamim Pakzad

Shamim is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Lehigh University and is currently serving as the Department Chairman. He has more than 30 year of experience in engineering and education. He is a parent of 2 boys, 16 and 14, both of whom are students at Saucon Valley, and is running to contribute back to the community.

Shamim thinks our school system can work better, for the kids and for the taxpayers in this community. He is proud of the work that he has done in the last few years to improve the schools. The taxes have remained the lowest in the County, quality and variety of the educational programs improved, and the reputation of the school as a leading pro-kids and pro-community district enhanced. He is particularly proud of the fact that Saucon Valley is the only public school district in Lehigh Valley to provide the option of in-person education to its families while making sure kids and families who were hesitant or unable to attend school in-person could receive a quality remote education through Saucon's great teachers. The schools remained safe during this pandemic year and scientific advice and recommendations were taken seriously and implemented with fidelity.

Shamim is against raising school taxes for the senior citizens in the next 4 years and will continue to work to elevate the reputation of this school district by bringing in new and innovative ideas. He believes the district should run its budget and finances analytically and strategically like a business.

To learn more about Shamim and his positions and his plans for the school, please click here.

Cedric Dettmar

Cedric grew up in a small town in the Colorado mountains, even smaller than Saucon Valley. His college degrees are in technology and finance, and he has worked for small and large companies doing many jobs from painting lines on the street to managing a $40 million business unit as a vice president at Oracle, one of the world’s largest high-tech companies. Cedric is now the owner of a small high-tech business, Janmar Systems.

Cedric has served on the School Board since 2017 and has attended nearly every school board meeting since 2010. He has raised $150K for our schools from corporate donors, coached the Middle School math club and assisted with the High School robotics team.

Cedric is proud of the School Board’s accomplishments during his term, especially keeping our schools open during Covid so our children could continue learning safely and our parents could continue working. He and the Board have approved expanded learning opportunities for our students, made needed renovations to our facilities, and negotiated two contracts with the teachers’ union before the previous one expired, all while holding the line on taxes.

When Cedric joined the board in 2017 the High School hadn't ranked in the top 100 for many years. Within a few years the high school cracked 100 and is currently ranked 62. It has been number 1 or 2 in the Lehigh Valley for the last three years. Many deserve credit for such a great achievement, but school board leadership was essential.

None of this means that Saucon Valley schools are perfect. There is plenty of room to improve across the board. Cedric will continue using his business and finance experience to find ways to bring distinction to our schools, keep costs low and defend us taxpayers.

Cedric's Biography and Positions on the Issues

Presentation to SVSD Board and Public about Academic Performance