Lower Merion residents voice frustration over superintendent's departure: 'It's embarrassing'
President Kerry Sautner said the school board was "committed to taking an honest look at what we can learn" after the resignation announcement of Frank Ranelli, the latest superintendent to step down.
The president of Lower Merion’s school board on Monday acknowledged frustration around the surprise resignation of another superintendent, as community members pressed the board to take more responsibility for the district’s leadership churn.
“Our students and our staff deserve stability, and every transition costs us something,” the board’s president, Kerry Sautner, said at a meeting Monday night. “It costs us momentum, it costs us trust, and it costs us time.”
Sautner said the board was “committed to taking an honest look at what we can learn and how we can move forward together” after Superintendent Frank Ranelli announced earlier this month that he would resign effective April 30, 2027.
Ranelli took over as superintendent in April 2025, after two other superintendents left the affluent Montgomery County school district after each serving for about a year.
But while Ranelli, a former superintendent in Piscataway, N.J., had said at the time of his hiring that he planned to work in Lower Merion “a long time,” he said Oct. 7 that the position was “just not a good match.”
Sautner said Monday that the resignation was “a moment that asks all of us to pause and reflect on how we got here.”
Several parents and community members who spoke Monday told the board it needed to recognize its role in the situation.
“This is embarrassing, it’s discouraging, and it’s disgraceful,” said Jill Altshuler, a parent in the district.
While “there are plenty of blame games going on,” Altshuler said, “there is one factor overall that has the most impact and power to stopping the revolving door of superintendents, and that is the school board.”
“No one group has created this crisis, but it is up to the board to lead us out of it,” she said.
Adrian Seltzer, a community activist, said she hoped the board would investigate why past superintendents had left, in addition to Ranelli.
“Unless you do this, this is just going to keep happening, and it’s not really acceptable,” Seltzer said.
Deena Pack, a parent who ran for school board in 2025, told the board that “something about the makeup of the school board” is “not working.”
“I beg of you, get some outside help,” Pack said.
Sautner said earlier in the meeting that the board had met to discuss hiring a search firm to lead a local and national search for a new superintendent, which would “build in opportunities for all of you” to share priorities and concerns.
“We will keep you informed at every step of the way and share how can you be part of that process,” Sautner said.
Also at Monday’s meeting, leaders of Lower Merion’s Committee for Special Education — a parent-led, district-recognized group that supports families — voiced concerns about the superintendent turnover, warning of instability for students with special needs and stalled progress on initiatives.
The group requested the creation of a school board committee focused on special education to add more oversight, in what CSE president Cara Herrmann called “an honest and transparent request for help.”
