Two political newcomers led voting to win seats on the nine-member Freeport Area School Board, according to unofficial election results.
Republican Greg Selinger, 40, and cross-filed candidate Adam Toncini, 36, will join cross-filed incumbents Frank Prazenica Jr., 72, and Melanie Bolinger, 48, and Michael Huth, 68, on the board for four-year terms starting in December.
Selinger and Toncini were the top vote-getters, receiving 19% and 18.8% of the 9,563 votes cast, respectively. Prazeniza collected 17.5%, Bollinger received 17.1% and Huth got 16.6%, results showed.
Challenger Ron Kobelenske, a Democrat, finished sixth in the race for five seats with about 11% of votes cast.
Huth is from South Buffalo, while the remaining candidates are from Buffalo Township.
Selinger is pleased to be elected. “I have a different perspective,” said the operations manager for a transfer company. “I have children in elementary, middle school and the high school.”
Upcoming negotiations with the staff of nearly 140 teachers will be very important, he said.
”We need to be fair to taxpayers and fiscally smart,” he said. “We have an old high school, and there are a lot of things that need to be done.”
Toncini said an early priority for the district is negotiating a teachers’ contract that’s fair to taxpayers and teachers.
“They are the number one group who takes care of our children,” said Toncini, a 2002 Freeport Area High School graduate.
He said the board’s makeup will draw experience from former educators, managers and health care staff and that will help students.
“Kobelenske should consider the next election,” Toncini said Wednesday. “I saw him at the polls and told him he should consider running in two years.”
In 2021, district voters will elect candidates for four terms that will expire then.
The Freeport Area School District serves about 2,000 students from almost 55 square-mile area in Freeport, Buffalo Township and South Buffalo.
There are four schools: Freeport Area High School (grades 9-12), Freeport Area Middle School (Grades 6-8), Buffalo Elementary School (Grades K-5), and South Buffalo Elementary School (Grades K-5).
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include results from Butler County. An original version included results only from Armstrong County.
