Riverview schools incumbent, 2 newcomers on both party ballots in November

Incumbent Maureen McClure, along with newcomers Jane Miller and Jennifer Chaparro, will appear on both the Democrat and Republican ballots in November for five, four-year seats on the Riverview School Board.

Incumbent Alex DiClaudio and political newcomer Brian Hawk lost Democratic nods, but won on the GOP side.

Melanie Pallone and incumbent Tara Jean Schaff won Democratic nods and were defeated on the GOP side.

Schaff is from Verona and the other candidates are all from Oakmont.

McClure has served on the board for eight years. She is a national award-winning professor of education management and finance at the University of Pittsburgh.

She has a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in secondary education from Allegheny College; an MBA; a master’s of science in educational administration and a doctorate in education finance and policy from the University of Rochester.

DiClaudio is in the last year of his first term on the board. The 2005 Riverview graduate has a bachelor’s degree in economics and master’s in arts management, both from Carnegie Mellon University. The film, television and theater producer founded his own company, DiClaudio Productions, in 2012.

Schaaf was appointed to the board in December to fill the seat vacated by John Nehlsen, who resigned in November.

She’s been a Verona resident with her husband, Kip, since March 2004 and a member of Verner Elementary’s PTO for years. Schaaf has a nursing degree from Shadyside School of Nursing in 2002, a bachelor’s degree from Waynesburg University in 2009 and master’s in nursing from the University of Pittsburgh in 2014, with a specialty in anesthesia.

Chaparro served on the Tenth Street Elementary PTO for two years. She has bachelor’s in communications and art history from the University of Pittsburgh, and works as a marketing strategy manager for UPMC Health Plan. She also serves as a yoga instructor at Homegrown Yoga in Oakmont. She has two children at Tenth Street Elementary.

Hawk is the area manager for Nicholson Construction of Canonsburg. He grew up in Plum, lived in Delmont and moved to Oakmont six years ago.

It’s his first time running for school board, and he is doing so as part of a promise to his son, an eighth-grader at the junior high school. Hawk also has a daughter in fifth grade and a 2-year-old daughter.

Pallone has volunteered for 20 local, state and federal campaigns. The former New Kensington resident is an attorney and Valley High School grad with degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State. She also worked as a professor and a journalist.

Miller has a bachelor’s in journalism from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and a master’s in health education from Penn State University.

She has a background in communications, strategic planning, marketing and health promotion working for a health insurer, and serves a choral director and organist for Natrona Heights Presbyterian Church.