Kiski Area School Board appoints 2 new members
Two new people are representing Region III of the Kiski Area School District.
On Monday, the board voted to appoint Dawn Mellinger of Hyde Park and Jamie Szitas of Parks Township.
Region III of the district includes Parks Township, the only Armstrong County community in the district, and Hyde Park, East Vandergrift and Vandergrift.
The new directors will complete the unexpired terms of Jessica Johns and Ronald Coleman. Both have one year remaining, with the terms ending in December 2023.
Johns of Vandergrift was appointed to the board in 2018 and won reelection for a full four-year term. She resigned her seat Nov. 21.
A Parks Township resident, Coleman was elected to the board in 2015 and won election to a second, full four-year term in 2019.
Mellinger is a stay-at-home mom and retired UPMC employee. Szitas is a public health program manager for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
They were among four people, all Kiski Area alumni, vying for the board seats.
The other candidates were Michael Basile, a steelworker from Vandergrift, and Amy Halter of Hyde Park, a licensed professional school counselor.
Each candidate was questioned individually by board members during the public meeting about why they wanted to join the board and what they have to offer. The questioning took place while the other candidates waited in the hallway.
In particular, board members asked whether the candidates had experience with large renovation projects such as the extensive renovation being planned for the intermediate school. However, none of them did.
All four candidates said they would be interested in running for a full term after the unexpired terms are up.
After the board voted on the candidates and the new members were administered the oath of office, School Director Cassandra Heinle addressed the two unsuccessful candidates. She urged them to stay involved because the school district needs the kind of citizen participation they were willing to commit to as board members.
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