Candidates vie for 6 seats on Franklin Regional school board

The Franklin Regional school board is guaranteed to see at least three new faces once the 2023 election cycle is complete.

Seven candidates have filed to compete for five four-year seats on the school board. Incumbent members Ed Mittereder, Bill Yant and Diana Altieri Hand did not file for reelection.

Here is a look at the candidates running for office. All candidates are cross-filed and will appear on both ballots, with the exception of Joshua Zebrak, who is filed as a Republican only.

George App, 41, is running after an unsuccessful bid in the 2021 primary election.

“I never lost interest in the school board and remain attentive and engaged with board activities,” App said. “All the stakeholders in this district deserve to be represented by people who understand the magnitude and responsibility of the role, and who are willing to work together to address the issues we face.”

App said he believes it’s “critical, now more than ever, that students be able to enter the post-Franklin Regional world with the ability to critically think, evaluate, understand and communicate information. … Many of the board’s other decisions, such as curriculum and budget priorities, can be linked back to this idea.”

Incumbent Vince Azzolina, 43, works as a chief operating officer. He said he’s enjoyed his first term on the board “and feel that I can continue to add fiscally responsible, level-headed and conservative-minded representation.”

Azzolina said the biggest issue facing the district is the need for improvements and updates, which were outlined in a districtwide facilities study undertaken several years ago.

“If elected, I’d continue to work with the administration to plan, budget and prioritize these points, among other items,” he said.

Deb Bucciero, 71, said she feels local school districts “are moving toward the left and getting away from moral values.”

“There’s a very small majority of people they’re trying to protect, and they’re forcing the majority of the school to change the way they’ve done things,” Bucciero said. “From sitting at school board meetings, I see our schools going farther and farther to the left and farther from our Judeo-Christian moral system, and I think we need people on the board willing to fight to bring that back into balance.”

John Fallat, 58, works in human resources at Highmark Health. Fallat said he chose to run because “I’m very concerned about what’s happening across school districts in Pennsylvania and the U.S.”

“Some of the issues like (critical race theory) that are being considered in a lot of places, some of the transgender and bathroom issues, men’s and women’s sports and students wanting to join sports that aren’t in their biological nature,” Fallat said. “I think parent-teacher transparency is an issue, and there’s also the cost to taxpayers from the district raising taxes every year.”

Amy Sheridan, 51, said she began attending board meetings during discussions about the construction of what is today the Franklin Regional Intermediate School.

“Last year when my son’s ninth grade honors English class had ‘Persepolis’ pulled, I started attending a lot more board and committee meetings,” Sheridan said. “I want students at the center of all decisions. ‘Persepolis’ is an obvious example – because the district didn’t follow its own policies, the kids in that class wasted valuable education time. And we’ve had several other instances where politics, and not education, has been the focus.”

Sheridan said she wants to be “a voice for doing things in a reasonable way and refocusing things on keeping education at the center.”

Incumbent Scott Weinman, 47, is a senior information technology analyst and said he wants to continue the work he began in his first term.

“We implemented a curriculum renewal schedule and created a designated fund to ensure Franklin Regional has money to pay for the renewals,” Weinman said. “We implemented a public, transparent process for managing school construction change orders, negotiated multiple contracts which put Franklin Regional in a strong financial position and navigated the covid-19 pandemic by providing choice to families and ensuring the necessary technology investments were made.”

Weinman said the district’s big challenge is potential changes in state funding “and the never-ending unfunded mandates.”

“I intend to work with our state representatives to help them understand the impact to the Franklin Regional community,” he said. “I want to keep the focus on improving education and not on politics.”

Joshua Zebrak, 36, is an engineer and manager. He opted not to cross-file since he didn’t have a chance to pursue support from the local Democrat committee after switching affiliation from Independent to Republican in order to run for office.

“I want to help prepare our students for success regardless of whether they go to college, a trade school or directly to work,” he said. “Currently, I think our education system is set up to benefit moving on to higher education, but for may students that is neither financially logical nor their true desire. We should be preparing every young adult for success in life, not just higher education,” such as maintaining a budget, credit card debt and the value of saving money.

“These are concepts many adults still struggle with or know little about, yet it’s a cornerstone of every adult’s life,” Zebrak said, adding that he’d like to see a return to the values he learned while in school.

“We need to recognize the importance of valuing someone for their individual thoughts and ideas,” he said. “The ability to have differing opinions but still be respectful and capable of civil discussion.”

Two-year seat also in play

Two cross-filed candidates also will compete for a two-year term on the school board: incumbent Herb Yingling III and challenger David Murphy.

Yingling, 74, has been a school board member for more than two decades.

“I would like to continue improving the educational opportunities of our students along with supporting the STEM, STREAM and vo-tech classes,” Yingling said. “One of the biggest issues facing the district is continuing to grow the cooperation between universities and our students. I’m also interested in expanding our internship program, and I hope more businesses will participate. We also need to concentrate on the demolition of the (former) Heritage (Elementary) School.”

Murphy, 50, is a helicopter pilot for a robotics company.

“I have two kids in sixth and seventh grade,” Murphy said. “I was in the Army for 14 years, and I was a LifeFlight pilot here in the area, so I’ve always served the community in some way.”

Murphy said he is concerned with maintaining a safe environment for students to learn and for teachers to teach.

“I’m a pretty heavy conservative a well, and I’d like to maintain those values and have a traditional, STEM-focused curriculum,” he said.

The primary election is May 16.