Northeastern school board candidate pleads to disorderly conduct for boarding bus

A surveillance video from March shows a candidate for the Northeastern School board boarding a school bus and yelling expletives as the children on the bus scream, an incident that earned the candidate a citation for disorderly conduct.

Michael Eriksen, running as a Republican for school board, pleaded guilty to the summary offense - a minor charge similar to a traffic violation - in May and paid $308.25 for the fine and costs, according to court records.

The video, obtained by current school board Vice President Tyler Kramlick under the Right To Know Law, shows several people on the bus, one of them yelling, "Do we have a (expletive) problem?" It's not clear whether the speaker was Eriksen. The children's faces were blurred out in the video to protect their privacy.

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Kramlick, who is seeking re-election to the board in the district's Region 1, opposed by Eriksen, said he submitted his request for the video in September and received it in October. He released the video because, he said, "the public should know" about Eriksen's behavior that day. "School board members need to be a role model," he said.

In a statement, Kramlick said, "The actions and behavior of Mr. Eriksen that day shows the complete opposite of how a Board of School Directors should conduct themselves. A school board director is suppose to be a role model and perform their duties with integrity and respect."

"The platform that he is running for a seat on the board of directors is based on Trust and Safety but yet he hasn’t disclosed or been transparent on this incident and the fact that he put a bus full of students' safety at risk by entering the bus even after being told by the driver that he can’t enter," Kramlick said. The parents and taxpayers are going to have to decide if this is the type of individual they want making decisions for their children and taxpayers will have to decide if this individual will cause them higher taxes because of lawsuits based on his actions."

The video depicts Ericksen and another man boarding the bus, even after the driver tells them they can't enter the vehicle, and try to escort children off the bus.

Eriksen, among the candidates who are endorsed by the 1776 Project Political Action Committee, a conservative organization that opposes "woke" ideology in schools, did not return calls for comment.

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This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Northeastern PA candidate pleads to disorderly conduct for boarding bus