Voters in Zelienople must choose between two experienced candidates when they cast their ballots for a school board member in the May 16 primary election.

While candidates for school board and judicial seats can cross-file on both the Democrat and Republican tickets, both Zelienople candidates decided to file as Republicans only.

Incumbent Mike Jacobs, who has served one term, is running to keep his seat.

His opponent, Kim Nagel, was a school board member for many years at the North Allegheny School District.

Jacobs, a 2002 Seneca Valley High School graduate, is a certified public accountant at Ernst & Young and advises some of the largest companies in the region on matters of policy, risk and governance in addition to his volunteer work in a variety of local capacities.

“I believe leveraging this experience for Seneca Valley makes me an asset to the board,” Jacobs said.

Some of the accomplishments Jacobs looks on with pride during his term on the SV board include fighting for open schools and student mental health concerns during the pandemic, serving as chairman of the board’s finance committee as an advocate for taxpayers, serving on the operating committee of the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School during a significant increase in district enrollment at the school, and keeping taxes low while building the state-of-the-art Ehrman Crest Elementary/Middle School.

Jacobs said he ran for school board because he and his wife are proud SV alumni and have three children in the district.

His goals for the district include continuing the modernization of district facilities, creating more robust strategies for technology in schools, and engaging with all Zelienople residents to represent their voices on the board.

Jacobs said top issues in the district are supporting students dealing with mental health issues, a focus on school safety that continues to include collaboration with local police departments, and not sacrificing academic excellence for growth.

“We need to continue to provide real-world, hands-on experiences to our students,” Jacobs said. “We need to examine how we define and measure success with topics such as assessment of student programs.”

Regarding the statewide teacher shortage, Jacobs said although Seneca Valley has more applicants than available positions, teachers should continue to receive competitive compensation and professional development to attract the best instructors.

Regarding growth at Seneca Valley, he said the predicted enrollment increases in the district over the next several years necessitate expansion and modernization of all schools.

He said to accomplish this goal on the elementary level, the district should move to full-day kindergarten.

“Our long-range financial plan allows us to meet these needs without relying on significant tax increases,” Jacobs said.

Kim Nagel is a 26-year Zelienople resident and father of four sons who graduated from Seneca Valley.

Nagel, who is retired, spent his working life as a business leader and sold his first company, Executive Financial, at age 36.

Nagel said he is qualified for the school board position because he served on the North Allegheny School Board for four consecutive terms.

When first elected to the NA board, Nagel was the youngest school board member in Pennsylvania, he said.

“My election went out on the AP and UPI wire services, making me a flash-in-the-pan celebrity,” Nagel said, “but I wasn’t a flash-in-the-pan school board director. I was always seeking ways to get better education at a lower price.”

He said his ideas combined with his ability to work successfully with others on the board led to “unbelievable achievements” that still serve the NA district by saving taxpayers millions of dollars.

Nagel said he was prompted to run because he feels the Seneca Valley board needs help in getting back to educating students.

While he has not served on the Seneca Valley board, he said an accomplishment of Nagel’s on the NA board was the authorship of the district’s capital reserve fund.

“Good school boards direct the issues that the administration and superintendent need to address,” he said. “One of my goals is to develop that dynamic. The other is to foster a traditional educational culture where students are students and teachers are teachers.”

Nagel said he looks forward to tackling enrollment growth at Seneca Valley because he experienced it at NA.

He said enrollment growth at North Allegheny was handled using strategic planning, which he said he came up with after enrolling in long-distance learning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology during his tenure on the board.

“I believe that method should work today for Seneca Valley,” Nagel said.

Regarding the current teacher shortage, Nagel recalls receiving 8,000 applications for two teaching positions at NA.

He blamed the current shortage on politicians who made attaining a teaching certificate a more difficult and lengthy process.

“Lastly, I don’t believe that I’m running against anyone,” Nagel said. “I’m just running for the school board.”