Christy Boyd, candidate in Ligonier Valley School Board race, appointed by court to temporary seat on panel

Christy Boyd is joining the Ligonier Valley School Board as an appointee four months in advance of appearing on the Nov. 4 ballot for election to the panel.

Westmoreland County’s eight judges on Tuesday agreed to name Boyd to a temporary post on the board. She will serve through the school board’s annual reorganization meeting in early December — succeeding the late Joseph Vella, who died suddenly on April 29.

“I’m ready to work with everybody,” Boyd said after she was sworn into office by Westmoreland County President Judge Christopher A. Feliciani.

“We’ve got to improve things at Ligonier Valley through teamwork,” Boyd said. “Getting everybody to work together, that’s the number one thing right now.

“There’s too much infighting among the board. It takes different opinions; you need different sides to figure everything out. You have to value everybody’s opinion.”

Feliciani announced the decision for Boyd after the county jurists heard presentations from her and three other applicants and then recessed for a roughly 10-minute deliberation at the county courthouse.

The selection of an appointee fell to the court after six initial applicants for the vacant board seat each failed to gain support from at least five of the remaining school board members.

In addition to Boyd, others who continued their quest for an appointment through the court included Kim Dickert-Wallace, a former school board member and school counselor, and two others who will appear in the Nov. 4 balloting for four four-year board terms: Democratic nominee Sarah Rovedatti and Republican nominee Robert Fryman.

In November, Ligonier Valley voters also will elect a candidate to serve out the remaining two years in Vella’s term.

Feliciani declined to discuss details of the judges’ deliberation.

“It was a majority decision,” Feliciani said, adding, “It was not just an automatic decision. The decision was based upon four extremely qualified and educated individuals.”

During her presentation to the judges, Boyd, 57, of Ligonier Township, stressed her experience in strategic planning, budget management, policy development and legal compliance. She is a retired quality manager in manufacturing.

“My professional background aligns directly with the oversight and decision-making duties this (school board) position requires,” Boyd said.

Boyd said her priorities include student success, support of district faculty and staff, and fiscal responsibility. She is a co-founder of the Brandon J. Boyd Memorial Fund that has provided scholarships for students and funding assistance for athletic facility improvements.

School Board Vice President Cindy Brown, a Republican nominee for reelection in November, was among school directors in attendance at Tuesday’s court appointment.

Brown, who chairs the board’s policy committee, said she should benefit from Boyd’s experience in that area.

Brown said she believes she and Boyd “have a lot of the same ideas about what we want to accomplish.

“It’s just moving on and upward, to where we can get the district running in the right way for the right reasons. We want to make sure all the stakeholders are heard — the parents are heard, the students are heard, and especially the teachers are heard.”