Retired Culinary Arts Teacher Joins Pennsbury School Board

The Pennsbury School Board has appointed a retired educator and Lower Makefield resident to fill a vacancy in its Region 1 seat.

Colin Marsh, who spent 21 years teaching culinary arts at Bucks County Technical High School, was sworn in during last Thursday night’s meeting. He replaces longtime board member T.R. Kannan, who resigned last month following a decade of service and after his son’s graduated from the district.

Senior District Judge Jan Vislosky administered the oath of office to Marsh.

The new board member will serve the remainder of Kannan’s term through 2027.

“It really is an honor to be appointed to fill the remaining term of T.R. Kannan,” Marsh said. “I’m really eager to serve the Pennsbury community in this capacity and hopefully to the standard of T.R. because I think he did a fine job.”

Marsh, a native of Chester, England, moved to the U.S. in 1985 and became a citizen in 1991. He cited his working-class upbringing—noting his father, grandfather, and brothers were steelworkers—as a primary influence on his worldview.

“While my career took me into the classroom rather than the steel mill, I have never forgotten my working class or blue collar roots,” he said.

A student of public education in both the U.K. and the U.S., Marsh attended Bucks County Community College and Temple University. His professional background includes stints as a chef and club manager before he entered the classroom.

The appointment comes as the district, which serves Falls and Lower Makefield townships and the boroughs of Tullytown and Yardley, prepares for construction on a new high school building in Falls Township is slated to begin in mid-May. The project is expected to run through August 2029, with an opening date set for September 2029.

“As we transition to a new school building and a new era for Pennsbury, I look forward to collaborating with the board, the administration, our faculty and our staff,” Marsh said. “Together, and I mean together, we can ensure we are providing the highest quality education for all students in the district and the tax base that funds it.”

Marsh said he has experience in management and budgeting, which he believes will be assets.

“I have seen firsthand how the landscape of education has shifted,” he said. “The students I taught at the beginning of my career face a very different world than the students in our classrooms today. Technology, social media and AI have acted as a massive catalyst for change, and we must be prepared to meet those challenges head on.”

Board President Dr. Steerer welcomed Marsh to the body.

“I’m ready to put Mr. Marsh to work,” said board member Linda Palsky. “Welcome aboard, and I am looking forward to working with you.”

In 2011, Marsh was part of a controversy at a Pennsbury School Board meeting when he called then-school board member Simon Campbell, who is also from the U.K. and a U.S. citizen, the “bastard child of Margaret Thatcher” and dishonest during comments over negotiations on the teachers’ contract, according to an article from the defunct Yardley News.