Norwin GOP fills vacancy on school board ticket
Norwin area Republican committee members selected a replacement for the candidate who withdrew from the GOP ticket for the school board election in November, snubbing the school board president who also sought the nomination.
Shawna Ilagan of North Huntingdon beat fellow Republicans Dorey Stabile McCarron and Norwin School Board president Brian Carlton in a secret-ballot vote on July 12 to replace Republican Michael Leroy, who withdrew from the race on June 18, according to a post from Steve Cleaveland, chairman of the Norwin area GOP. Leroy withdrew on June 18 for personal reasons, according to a statement on Change 4 Norwin website.
Ilagan, 39, a registered dietitian who is a quality improvement specialist in the health insurance industry, said she received 22 votes, which was the minimum majority needed to win. McCarron, who lost her bid in the May primary for the GOP nomination for Westmoreland County controller, received 15 votes and Carlton received just six votes.
The Republican committee followed the state elections code in selecting a replacement for Leroy, even though there were other candidates on the ballot who did not win in the May primary, said Greg McCloskey, who is overseeing the county election bureau.
Ilagan has joined with two other Republican candidates, Alex Detschelt and Christina Baverso, who ran on a Change 4 Norwin slate in the primary.
Carlton won a spot in the May primary on the Democratic ticket, but came in fifth on the Republican ballot in the battle for one of for four nominations. He declined to comment on the GOP committee selection.
Carlton had called on fellow Norwin school director Bob Wayman, a member of the Norwin area GOP committee, to resign from the school board in September 2020 over controversial statements posted on a private Facebook page last year. Several board members and residents had called on Wayman to resign over the posts, including the statement that the “Gold Star of David coming to the mask wearers sooner than they realize.” The Nazis in Germany forced Jews to wear a Star of David from 1939 to 1945 as a way of identifying them for persecution.
Joe Napsha is a TribLive reporter covering Irwin, North Huntingdon and the Norwin School District. He also writes about business issues. He grew up on Neville Island and has worked at the Trib since the early 1980s. He can be reached at jnapsha@triblive.com.
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