New Kensington-Arnold seats new school board members, fills vacant seat
The New Kensington-Arnold School Board seated four new members Monday night.
Nicholas DiCarolis, Jane Graham and Sarah Yurga, all elected in November, were sworn into office by Westmoreland County Judge Anthony Marsili as part of the school board’s reorganization meeting.
A former board member also was sworn in to fill a board vacancy in Region III.
Scott Bussard, who didn’t seek reelection because of his work schedule, had a change of heart after he was moved from night shift to day shift.
The person elected to fill Bussard’s seat, Peter Nkemakolam, was declared ineligible to serve because he lives in Region II, not Region III.
After a discussion on procedure, the board voted 6-2 to have the vacancy filled by Bussard, meaning the seat was vacant for about 25 minutes.
Tonya Norman of Charles Avenue was the only other person at the meeting who showed interest in the vacancy.
According to Solicitor Anthony Vigilanti, had Bussard not received a majority vote, the board would have considered Norman.
It was thought the board would declare a vacancy and choose a new member at a later date, but a consensus of board members wanted to move quickly.
“We are negotiating a new teachers contract,” board Vice President Terry Schrock said. “We should have a full board and move forward instead of sitting on our haunches.”
“I gradually became interested in being on the board again because of my work change,” Bussard said. “Then, when they hired new Superintendent Dr. (Christopher) Sefcheck, I began to wish I did run.”
Board President Timothy Beckes, Schrock, Eric Doutt, DiCarolis, Graham and Yurga voted for Bussard. John Cope and Steven Sorch voted no.
Yurga said she wants to see special education and mental health issues addressed by the school district.
“A lot of behavioral issues with mental health comes from poverty with younger children,” Yurga said. “We can treat them now and, later, as adults, they can become functioning members of society.”
Graham also is excited about the new superintendent.
“Now that we have the financial part of the district in order, we can start focusing on education and build that up,” Graham said.
“I ran to help out our community and have an impact — the same community that helped me growing up here in the ‘90s,” DiCarolis said. “The new businesses in New Kensington and Arnold are a breath of fresh air and we want to build from that.”
Beckes was reelected as school board president.
George Guido is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.
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