The Nov. 7 general election for Freeport Area school board is somewhat like a game of musical chairs, as six candidates are running for five seats on the board.

Board president Adam M. Toncini, first vice president Greg Selinger and board treasurer Michael J. Huth are running to retain their seats, while newcomers Dino DiGiacobbe, Sylvia R. Maxwell and Dan Ritter also are seeking four-year terms.

The terms of Melanie K. Bollinger and Frank C. Prazenica Jr. expire at the end of the year.

Huth, Selinger, DiGiacobbe and Maxwell will appear on both the Democratic and Republican ballots. Toncini will appear only on the Democratic ballot, while Ritter is only on the Republican ballot.

Multiple school board candidates mentioned the district’s problems with securing federal and state funding. Some also placed emphasis on the state of Freeport High School, which is over 60 years old and going through a lengthy renovation.

Other candidates are concerned about potential overspending by the school board.

Toncini, of Buffalo Township, is finishing his first term on the board, the last two years of which he served as board president.

When he isn’t serving on the school board, Toncini works as an accountant for Concordia Lutheran Ministries. But for Toncini, the school board runs through his blood.

“My father was on the board back in the ’80s,” Toncini said. “My uncle was on the board in the ’80s and ’90s. I just wanted to give back to the district. I always thought it was a very good school district, and I do have two young children who are in the district, so I wanted to do what I could to support education.”

Toncini pointed to funding as one of the major issues facing the district, which he said is hindering them in their attempts to renovate the aging high school and provide a quality learning experience for all.

“We have a 60-year-old high school that is in need of updating, and we need to continue with that process,” Toncini said. “Children should be able to go to school and feel that it is a safe place for them to learn.”

Selinger, of Buffalo Township, is director of operations for the moving company Weleski Transfer. He is just about to complete his first term on the board and is its first vice president.

Selinger was prompted to run for a spot on the school board so he could have a say in the affairs of the district where four of his children are students, and four have graduated.

“I just wanted to be a real part of what happens in the district and look out for the kids,” Selinger said.

Chief among Selinger’s concerns is the district’s funding problem, which has forced Freeport to make costly cuts to both programs and labor.

“In my tenure, we haven’t been replacing teachers as much as we should, and we have fewer programs available now than we did a while back,” Selinger said. “It’s a constant battle of trying to provide the school district with enough funds to do what we need to do and also trying not to burden the taxpayers.”

Selinger also mentioned the deteriorating state of Freeport High School, which is going through a lengthy renovation. A refreshed high school would give students a safer learning environment and a better chance to excel, Selinger said.

“Part of it was falling apart,” Selinger said. “Bricks were falling off the back end of it. The high school needs upgrading, and we’re currently working on it.”

Few people are more familiar with the district than Huth, who has served on the board for 32 years. Huth, 73, of Buffalo Township, is the board’s treasurer.

Now retired, Huth has led a rich life in addition to his work with the school board, having worked with the Secret Service, the Coast Guard and the Office of the Inspector General. He also served as business manager or business administrator at various public schools throughout Pennsylvania for 27 years.

Huth says that the district has changed quite a bit since he became a school board member in 1991.

“We’ve remodeled two elementary schools, and we built a middle school,” Huth said. “Since I've been on the board, they received the Blue Ribbon Award from the government twice, so we’ve been pretty successful.”

Like many other board members and candidates, Huth is concerned about the district’s ability to attract public funding to maintain its facilities and educational programs.

“Everything is basically attached to money — if you’re going to improve the building structures or if you’re going to maintain high standards for your teachers — it all boils down to funding,” Huth said. “The high school is 60-plus years old, so it needs to be retrofitted with new heating systems and electrical systems.”

DiGiacobbe, 59, of Buffalo Township, is a retired former police officer, steelworker and armed forces veteran.

Last year, DiGiacobbe retired from his position as detective with the New Kensington Police Department, where he served for 11 years. Prior to that, for 14 years, he worked as a foreman at Allegheny Ludlum Steel Corp., while also serving as a part-time police officer with Freeport borough.

DiGiacobbe graduated from Freeport High School in 1982 and, along with his wife Jeanne, is raising four children within the district.

While DiGiacobbe has no school board experience, he served as a borough councilman for Freeport in Armstrong County from 2018 to 2020.

“I’ve been a public servant my whole adult life,” DiGiacobbe said. “I want to continue that passion by serving as a Freeport Area school board director.”

DiGiacobbe’s chief concern is making sure that students in the district are ensured of a safe and secure learning environment. This extends to potential threats from within the student body.

“I’ve heard from several people regarding accusations of bullying at the high school,” DiGiacobbe said. “Children should look forward to enjoying their day at school with friends, not having anxiety about going to school because of being bullied.”

DiGiacobbe is aiming to improve the district’s security and anti-bullying procedures, while also curbing spending and preventing further tax increases. This June, the board approved a property tax increase of 3%.

“Respect the taxpayer. Scrutinize every line item on the budget. No wasteful spending,” DiGiacobbe said. “No one should lose their home due to the ever-increasing school tax.”

Maxwell, 52, of Buffalo Township, is a Realtor at the Sarver office of Berkshire Hathaway. While she doesn’t hold a seat on the Freeport board, current school board members should be very familiar with her, as she said she has attended nearly all of their meetings for the past two-and-a-half years.

“At first, it was for general interest in what happens in the district,” Maxwell said. “The more familiar I became with the processes, the more interested I became. Soon after, I decided I wanted to run for a seat because I feel like I bring a fresh perspective and I am motivated to put my ideas into action.”

She is in the middle of her second term on the Greater Alle-Kiski Board of Realtors, where she serves as board director and treasurer. In addition, Maxwell has been a yoga teacher for more than a decade, and owns the Sol Power yoga studio in Sarver.

Maxwell believes her experience in real estate is what qualifies her for a role on the school board, particularly when it comes to putting budgets together.

“Projecting the real estate market, growth in the community and the school district, and being able to budget accordingly is the difference between a balanced budget and unbalanced one,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell believes that the district has embarked on reckless spending and should go on a “budgetary diet” over the next few years. She also is concerned about upcoming development in the school district’s area, which could funnel more students than the schools can handle.

“We have multiple housing plans slated to come to our district, and our classroom sizes are at 28 to 30, which is almost the state maximum,” Maxwell said. “We currently do not have the space for 500 to 700 additional students.”

Maxwell’s proposed solution would theoretically kill two birds with one stone.

“To confront this issue, I plan to seek legislation to impose impact fees on developers,” Maxwell said. “Educational impact fees are a charge or fee imposed by a school district against new residential development in order to enable the school district to develop programs and facilities necessary to accommodate increased student enrollment.”

Ritter, of Buffalo Township, is well-known in the community as the owner of Ritter’s Farm on Wedgewood Lane in Sarver. He is also a volunteer firefighter with the Sarver Volunteer Fire Company, where, he said, he has the highest callout rate for firefighters at that company.

He is hoping to volunteer more of his time as a member of the board for the Freeport Area School District, where all three of his children have been educated.

“All three of my kids went through Freeport High School,” Ritter said. “So I’ve always donated a lot of items to the school, to the sports teams.”

Ritter says he was motivated to run for a spot on the board partly due to rising tax rates for residents of the district.

“We keep having more and more tax increases, and seeing that I’m a community member, I’d like to help in looking at ways that we can lessen the amount of raises in taxes,” Ritter said. “It would be good to curb the amount of increases.”

Ritter said he would also focus on making sure students at the district would have a secure environment for learning.