Voters in the Knoch School District chose four incumbents and one newcomer Tuesday, Nov. 7, out of seven candidates for five seats on the Knoch School Board, ousting a longtime school board member in the process.

David McRandal, Justin Kovach, William Gebhart and board president Donna Eakin retained their spots on the school board, while Jesse Scheller earned a seat on the board for the first time, according to unofficial election results.

Trailing were longtime school board member Debra Miller and newcomer Tim Danehy, who finished outside of the top five and did not receive enough votes to earn a spot on the school board.

Among the seven candidates, newcomer Scheller led the way with 3,342 votes, or 17.98% of the vote; followed by McRandal with 3,320 votes, or 17.86% of the vote; Kovach with 3,072 votes, or 16.53% of the vote; Gebhart with 2,907 votes, or 15.64% of the vote; and Eakin with 2,764 votes, or 14.87% of the vote.

Bringing up the rear were Miller with 1,699 votes, or 9.14% of the vote; and Danehy with 1,395 votes, or 7.51% of the vote. There were also 86 write-in votes.

Kovach, Gebhart and Eakin appeared on both the Republican and Democratic ballots; Scheller and McRandal ran as Republicans. Miller and Danehy ran as Democrats.

Kovach, who works as a real estate agent and is also a professional structural engineer, successfully retained his school board seat in the first election he took part in since he entered the school board July 2022. He was appointed to fill the vacancy left by Dale Fennell, who resigned in May 2022 for health reasons.

The election brings Miller’s 20-year tenure on the board to an end.

Jesse Scheller

Justin Kovach

Bill Gebhart

Donna Eakin