Parkland's Roberta Marcus Feted for Advocacy

Parkland School Board member Roberta Marcus will receive the Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.

A fellow school board member, Robert Bold, announced the news of the award during the Parkland School Board meeting Tuesday night. Marcus said she was “tremendously humbled” to learn that she will be receiving the award.

According to the PSBA, The Timothy M. Allwein Advocacy Award was established by PSBA in 2011 to recognize the school director or directors who have “demonstrated outstanding leadership in legislative advocacy efforts on behalf of public education and students that are consistent with the positions in PSBA’s Legislative Platform.”

The award is named after Timothy M. Allwein, who died unexpectedly at age 54 in February 2011. He worked as PSBA’s assistant executive director for Governmental and Member Relations.

Marcus, a resident of South Whitehall, is serving her fifth term on the Parkland School Board. She has served with four superintendents during her tenure. 

Marcus was president of the Parkland board in 1998, 2001 and 2003. She also served as president of the PSBA in 2010, after holding other association positions from 2007-2009.

Marcus is one of only 19 master school board members in the state, a special accreditation earned from the PSBA. She is known for speaking out widely on behalf of public education and for lobbying the state Legislature on the need to invest in schools.