19 seek to fill vacancy on Norwin School Board

The Norwin School Board has to select among 19 residents who are seeking to fill one vacancy.

Among the hopefuls are a teacher who lost her bid for the board in the May primary, a North Huntingdon commissioner’s wife, four other teachers, an administrator working in other school districts, plus several business owners.

The school board will hold a special meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the school district’s administration building in North Huntingdon to interview the candidates and then conduct a vote among the eight remaining members in an attempt to agree on someone who can garner five votes.

This vacancy was created earlier this month when Barbara Viola resigned with two years remaining on her term. The winning candidate can fill the remainder of Viola’s term, which expires in December 2021. The new board member can then run for a full, four-year term in the 2021 elections.

The school board in fall 2018 could not agree on a replacement for Shawn Petrisko, who resigned that August , so the Westmoreland County judges appointed retired teacher William Essay.

All of those who applied by the Dec. 13 deadline are North Huntingdon residents, with the exception of Samuel R. Baudoux. Baudoux, 40, of Irwin, is a registered Republican.

The eight Republicans competing for the seat are: Jennifer Blasko, 30; Jane L. Coughenour, 51; Justin M. Gogolsky, 39; Derek Kassimer, 40; Jennifer Kerrigan, 44; Dorey S. McCarron, 45; Ginger L. Taylor, 47; and Chris Vitsas, 39.

The seven Democrats seeking the seat are: Parag Bedekar, 44; Tony Corsa, 42; Robert J. Eagleson III, 53; Jennifer Fitzgerald, 49; Ernest Furno, 58; Kimberly Piekut, 51; and Daniel Rose, 66.

Two candidates registered as independents are: Emily Gindlesperger, 48, and Sammy Lewis, 42.

A voter registration was not found for David McLaughlin.

Several of the candidates have backgrounds in education.

Piekut, a South Allegheny teacher, lost her bid for a school board nomination in last May’s primary.

Blasko is an East Allegheny teacher who applied to be appointed to the board by the Westmoreland County judges last January. She is the wife of North Huntingdon Commissioner Brian Blasko. Brian Blasko in a Yough teacher who withdrew his name from consideration to replace Petrisko.

Eagleson is a teacher at the Steel Center for Career and Technical Education, and Gogolsky is a Jeannette teacher. Fitzgerald is an emergency substitute teacher at Norwin, in addition to being a real estate agent. Coughenour is an administrator in the McKeesport Area School District.

If the school board fails to appoint a replacement in early January, a resident can petition the Westmoreland County Court again to intervene and select the next board member.

Information on all of the candidates, including their letters of interest and resumes, are on the Norwin School District website, under the agendas, the BoardDocs link and meetings tab.