On the 3rd try, Jeannette school board selects member to fill vacancy

A new member was appointed to the Jeannette City School Board this week to fill the seat left behind after Janice Smarto’s death last month.

The board voted 6-2 to appoint Susan McFarland to the vacant seat. She will serve until the board’s reorganization meeting in December. Smarto died Aug. 10.

Voters will elect someone in November to fill the remaining two years of Smarto’s term.

A trio of candidates — McFarland, George Carter and Joshua Miller — responded to three questions about their motivation to run, how they’d balance their duties and their views on cyber charter school reform. Jeannette Superintendent Matt Jones was among hundreds of his counterparts around the state who signed a letter requesting cyber charter funding reform to be included in the state’s 2025-26 budget.

The directors commended the three candidates for their responses. Director Timothy Mortimore said it would be a tough decision.

“I know you all have numerous things that you can provide to the district, and, to be honest with you, I’m quite impressed with all three of you,” he said.

Director Melissa Humberger agreed.

“There really is no bad candidate here; this is really tough,” she said. “All three of you would really be great to represent our school district, and I would honestly love to work with all three of you.”

It took three rounds of voting to get the seat filled.

Directors were split 4-4 for Carter.

“I feel confident that the experience that I bring would be beneficial to the board to continue help push along the mission of the district,” he said during his interview.

A majority of directors opposed appointing Miller.

“Our kids are our future, and anything I can do to help or anytime I can volunteer my time to do so, that’s what I try to do,” he said during his interview.

McFarland, who won the third vote, will have to fill out paperwork and be sworn in before she can join the board. She said she is a school counselor at a cyber charter school.

“I think that maybe I can bring a different perspective to the board and some information on how things are run on the opposite side of things that might shed light on some creative ways here that we can entice our students to stay enrolled in the district,” she said. “I don’t think cyber learning is for everyone.”

Pennsylvania’s 500 public school districts pay for students who live within their borders to attend one of the state’s 14 public cyber charter schools. Annual tuition costs vary throughout the state, ranging from $7,600 per student to nearly $29,000 per student, according to the state Department of Education.

School districts for years have lamented the burden that cyber charter tuition places on their already tight budgets.