Two newcomers are in the running for two open Region 1 seats on Slippery Rock Area School District’s board in the Nov. 7 general election.

A 20-year-old Slippery Rock Area High School graduate, Connor Scott, a history student at the University of Pittsburgh, and Kelly Lake, an early childhood education supervisor for Pittsburgh Public Schools, will be on the ballot alongside incumbent Mark Taylor.

Scott is the only Democratic candidate on the ballot for any of Slippery Rock’s three regions.

Kelly Lake has cross-filed and will appear on both parties’ ballots. Mark Taylor, a Republican, has served on the board since December 2011.

They will be elected to six-year terms.

Having graduated from Slippery Rock Area High School in 2021, Scott would be the youngest ever member on the school board.

He said he would bring a distinct perspective to the board as someone who is aware of the issues facing the student body. As a former high school representative to the board, Scott said he regularly attended school board meetings as a student and addressed board members with student concerns.

“I can bring a younger perspective when it comes to local offices like the school board,” Scott said. “I know that at the local level, not many younger people really bother looking at those type of offices, but as someone who has been involved with the school board and hopefully going into education after I graduate (college) ... I’m hoping younger perspectives will be able to help the school board make better decisions for our schools.”

His mother, Heather Scott, has served on the school board since December 2013. She is not up for reelection.

Scott applied to fill a vacant position on the board earlier in the 2022-23 calendar year but did not get the position, he said.

If elected, Scott said he would love to promote Slippery Rock’s Vo-Tech program.

“I believe education, no matter how you receive it, is a good thing for all students,” he said.

His other topics of focus are bullying and financing the district’s upcoming renovations.

Scott said he has seen comments from families in the district on social media regarding bullying.

"I don’t want it to be a problem anymore,“ he said. ”I would love to discuss with the school board different groups or programs that have shown success in preventing bullying. When I was in high school, we had a program, but it didn’t last long. I would love to look into programs that can withstand time and be effective.“

Scott said spending should be prioritized for district renovation projects.

“I know some people wouldn’t be really be happy with that answer, but that’s something that the board has already approved and should be addressed head on,” he said.

Scott also said students’ educational needs during renovations should be prioritized.

“I want to help students still maintain the level of education they received before renovations,” he said.

When it comes to financing, Scott said, “that’s going to be an all around group discussion.”

An alumna of Slippery Rock Area School District, Kelly Lake said she has worn many hats as an educator that qualify her for the position.

Lake, of Slippery Rock Township, holds a doctorate in educational leadership and administration, along with four master’s degrees in education.

Lake supervises 30 early education classrooms as an early childhood education supervisor for Pittsburgh Public Schools and manages its Chartiers Early Childhood Center.

Lake is certified as a K-12 reading specialist and K-12 English as a second language specialist. She worked as a teacher for 11 years and held positions as an education specialist, a literacy coach, a project director for Early Reading First, a Pre-K Counts supervisor and a Keystone STARS manager.

Her seven-year-old son attends school in the district.

“Along with being an active parent within the district and the community, I was actually prompted to run for this position by a childhood friend who is also a longtime Slippery Rock Area School District parent and community member,” Lake said. “After discussing some of the concerns that were brought to her attention by other parents as well as teaching staff within the district, I felt compelled to use my experiences as an educator, my educational background and my love of children and families to support those within my community who have shown unconditional love and support to me and my son. I would love the opportunity to engage in the sharing of ideas with others on the school board to ensure that we, as a team, are making sound decisions for the district that are in the best interest of all students and teaching staff.”

If elected, Lake said her goals would be to optimize financial resources, maximize academic achievement, maintain effective programming, recruit and retain high-quality teachers and staff who are reflective of the diverse student needs, provide a safe and engaging learning environment and build collaborative partnerships with key stakeholders.

The top issues Lake sees in the district include integrating social/emotional learning in curricula, addressing teacher turnover, prioritizing student and teacher voices in discussions held during board meetings and maximizing financial resources for educational achievement.

To ease the teacher shortages across the state, Lake said teachers “need higher salaries, more materials, more resources, more professional learning opportunities, and to be given more grace.”

“If we show our students and teachers that we prioritize and value them, we can achieve academic success, and our district and community will benefit as a whole,” she said.

Lake said she believes the district should prioritize spending by increasing teacher salaries, recruiting and retaining teachers, purchasing districtwide curricula that is reflective of culturally and linguistically diverse learners and curricula that is devoted to social-emotional learning.

Taylor has served the board since December 2011, helping the district with various safety, construction and infrastructure projects.

A retired Army veteran who worked in the engineering field for 35 years, Taylor said his experience gives him an analytical perspective on issues within the district and helps him assist with infrastructure projects, saving the district money.

If reelected, Taylor said his focus would be on providing a safe, functional, and modern learning environment for students, continuing to improve academic performance, controlling expenditures while facing increased operational costs and “continuing to provide as many resources as possible for our kids and staff to excel.”

“I’m running to continue the work that was started and to ensure that our kids have every opportunity that we are able to provide so that they are prepared to face the world outside of Slippery Rock,” Taylor said.

Teacher availability and retention, health care costs, aging buildings and infrastructure are top issues for the district, he said.

Taylor said helping to “make the teaching profession respected again” would be one way the district could address the statewide teacher shortage.

“Our teachers are under a great deal of pressure because of unrealistic demands from parents, disrespectful children and unreasonable testing requirements being forced on them through state agencies,” Taylor said. “Somehow those issues need to be addressed to attract people back into the profession.”

Region 2 and 3 of Slippery Rock Area School District are both uncontested.

Greg Schiller is the only candidate running for the four-year term in Region 2. He was appointed to the school board in 2021 and is in his third year of serving the board. Retired after working as a federal investigator for 30 years, Schiller said district priorities include addressing aging infrastructure and education loss during the pandemic, and continuing to strengthen partnerships with universities.

Incumbents Leslie Colosimo and Theresa Pearce are running for Region 3.

During her time on the school board, Pearce said she advocated for strengthening the reading program for kindergarten through second grade and pushed to get Medicaid billing reimplemented so the district could bill the state for reimbursement of qualified special-education services.

Colosimo said she brings more than 25 years working in public education to her position on the school board. Both she and Pearce noted that supporting students and teachers were priorities for the district.

Two vacant seats remain for the four-year term.