6 candidates run for 5 seats on Butler school board
Residents living within the borders of Connoquenessing, Butler, Center, Oakland, Summit and Clearfield townships will select five members of Butler Area School District school board at the May 16 primary election.
There are six candidates running for the school board. Current board president Jennifer Cummings and vice president Jennifer Daniels-Wells are running for reelection, and they cross-filed on the Republican and Democratic ballots, along with challengers Terry Stivason and Phil Heasley.
Challengers Cecilia Tomko and Tess Walko are running only for Republican Party nominations.
The four-year terms of Cummings, Daniels-Wells, Bill Halle — whose name was removed from the ballot by a judge — and Regenold Griffin and Mary Waggoner — both of whom did not enter the primary — expire at the end of this year.
The five people with the most votes from the Democratic Party will proceed to the November ballot, and likewise, the five with the most votes from the Republican Party will proceed to the November ballot.
In November, the five people who receive the most total votes will become school board members.
Cummings, of Center Township, has been on the board since 2015 and said that as a mother of school-age children with an education in government, “the quality of public education matters” to her.
She said she graduated from Penn State University with a political science degree, worked in software engineering for 20 years and now does bookkeeping, web design and other roles in her family business.
“I became interested when the district consolidated from nine elementary schools to five,” Cummings said. “I felt my personal strengths — equanimity, thinking strategically — were well suited to the role.”
Daniels-Wells, of Center Township, said she wants to stay on the board to advocate for those in need.
She said she has a bachelor’s degree from Slippery Rock University and a master’s degree from Geneva College, has worked in human services for 25 years and teaches in the Continuing Education Program at Butler County Community College.
“I will continue to advocate, assist and further build community partnerships, and relationships between the district and the many impactful programs within our community that assist our children and their families,” Daniels-Wells said. “I am a firm believer in studying a culture in order to understand the individuals, and to begin to identify areas that need improvement.”
Phil Heasley, of Center Township, said he is running for school board in part because of the “over-politicizing of our school board that has become a distraction from the board’s responsibilities.”
He said he currently manages a family business, Butler Gymnastics Club, and graduated from Butler Senior High School.
“I am committed to supporting teachers and staff, engaging in community outreach, and providing opportunities for student success both inside and outside the classroom,” Heasley said. “My top priority as a board member is to ensure that every student in our district gets the education that's right for them, regardless of their abilities or circumstances.”
Tomko, of Butler Township, said she feels it’s a responsibility to teach students the tools they need to learn anything in life, “from gardening to government” and how to think logically to reason and problem-solve.
She has a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in teaching from the University of Virginia and has taught English in Orange County High School. She said she also has worked as an administrative director and a tutor for home-school programs for the last 13 years and is worship leader at LifePointe Alliance Church in Mars.
“I believe that my diverse education experiences qualify me to provide some fresh perspectives and insights to the school board,” Tomko said. “My primary goal is to be a unifying factor who helps to keep the students and families we serve foremost in our minds in all we do.”
Walko, of Connoquenessing, said she has “a strong desire to see that our children are educated well.” She said she has worked in teaching in the areas of mental health and “mental retardation” as well as customer service and positions from entry level to management.
“Parental choice and local control are the main issues I see for every school district,” Walko said. “I have a strong desire to see that our children are educated well. This affects not only their future, but the future of our community.”
Walko also said the issue of a shortage of teachers could be addressed by giving them more autonomy. She added that she would confront issues with a reliance on the U.S. Constitution and Pennsylvania Constitution.
“I think giving teachers the resources they need to teach without government interference would go a long way to gaining and retaining teachers,” Walko said.
Tomko said she sees the shortage of teachers in specific disciplines including as higher sciences, higher math and special education as one of the biggest issues facing the district. She said looking at alternative paradigms for hiring, especially aimed at recent college graduates, could be the key to mitigating the shortage.
“BASD could implement methods that have worked exceptionally well for home-school co-ops into the public school system which could save money, incentivize expert teachers and offer employee flexibility,” Tomko said, “as well as inspire an increased love of learning in the students.”
Heasley said the district should work to make the calling of teaching “more enticing.”
“Teachers feel there is no time to get things done throughout the day,” Heasley said. “I feel we need to work on making our teachers feel appreciated to attract new talent to our area.”
Daniels-Wells said she believes the teacher shortage across the state is related to the COVID-19 pandemic, because they may not have been supported and were put into positions they were not prepared for, leaving them to feel frustrated, unheard and unsafe. “Moving forward, I think it is imperative to listen to teachers’ concerns so they feel supported and safe in their classrooms,” she said.
Cummings said the skill level of Butler school district’s teachers gives them “a lot of career choices, many with flexibility in time and place,” so the district needs to give them more incentives to excel.
“A teaching career needs to be competitive and lucrative, and not just in wages and benefits,” Cummings said. “Districts and the government must remove bureaucracy and other obstacles from their jobs and make them feel empowered, supported and impactful.”
Candidate Terry Stivason did not return several phone calls. Walko declined to submit a photograph.
