Heated races for seats on Mon Valley school boards

By STACY WOLFORD
swolford@yourmvi.com

The races for open seats on Valley-wide school boards were among some of the most competitive in Tuesday’s general election.

Here are the unofficial results of several contested and uncontested school board races around the Mon Valley:

ALLEGHENY COUNTY
McKeesport Area

In the McKeesport Area School District there were five candidates vying for one of four, four-year seats open on the city school board. With 31 of 45 precincts reporting as of press time, Arla Payne lead the candidates with 3,036, followed by Kevin Kovach, 2,780, Matthew Holtzman, 2,739, David G. Donato, 2,711, and Bob Boyle, 2,206. There were 764 write-in votes.

West Mifflin

In the West Mifflin School District, five people were on the ballot for one of four, four-year seats. With 20 of 23 precincts reporting as of press time, leading the ballot were Nicholas Alexandroff, 3,351, Judith M. Ahern, 3,286, Kevin Squires, 3,276, Mark Donahoe, 3,043, and Steven Arbasak, 2,340.

WESTMORELAND COUNTY
Belle Vernon Area

Belle Vernon Area School Board candidates Jack Curran of North Belle Vernon, Adam R. Spitznagel of Rostraver Township, incumbent Michelle Callaway- Rodriguez of Rostraver Township and William Hrach of Rostraver Township secured their spots by winning in the spring election. With 100% of precincts reporting in Westmoreland and Fayette counties, the top vote getter Tuesday was Curran with 2,996, followed by Spitznagel, 2,626, Callaway- Rodriguez, 2,597, and Hrach, 2,503.

Monessen City School District
Monessen School District school board members Marc D. Bellora, Cheryl Galilei and Teresa Dzurko Speicher and candidate Dan McFadden were unopposed for one of four, four-year seats, having won in the spring. With 100% of precincts reporting, Bellora led with 1,217 votes, followed by Galilei, 1,065, Dzurko Speicher , 1,017, and McFadden, 884.

Yough School District

Winning one of four, four-year seats on the Yough School Board are Jared P. Filapose (2,627 votes), Linda L. Knor (2,299), Matthew A. Gardner (2,279) and Monica F. Ustazewski (2,252), according to unofficial results. Jason Cooper came up short with 1,763.

WASHINGTON COUNTY
California Area

For California Area’s School District Region 1, Democratic candidates Barry R. Niccolai and Joseph Grodz, who crossfiled, both received the two nominations for the two open seats. Niccolai had 456 votes, Grodz, 400.

For Region II’s one, four-year seat, Susan Baumgard was the lone candidate with 686 votes.

For one, four-year seat representing Region III, Gina Martin was the lone candidate with 524 votes.

Charleroi Area

For four, four-year seats on the Charleroi Area School Board, it appears newcomer Adam Wilkinson, a Republican, won a seat on the school board with 1,569 votes, according to unofficial election results. With 100% of precincts reporting, he will join incumbents Larry Hopkins, 1,710 votes, Joseph Caruso, 1,621, and Barbara L. Pepper, 1,498. Incumbent Thomas Nutting appears to have lost with 1,493. There were 49 write-in votes,

Ringgold

For one of three, four-year at-large seats in the Ringgold School District, the winners are: incumbent Sherrie Crawley Garry, 3,970 votes, Heather Dougherty, 3,917, and Gene Kennedy, 3,517, with 100% of precincts reporting. Sarah Fine appears to have come up short with 3,379 votes. There were 104 write-in votes.

For Region 1, Paul Mountain was unopposed with 1,380 votes.

Incumbent Carol Fida Flament was unopposed for one, four-year seat representing Region 2. She garnered 1,755 votes.