Election 2023: Unofficial results for Beaver County school board races released
As polls closed on Tuesday evening, the unofficial results of several school board races began to take shape throughout the night.
Voter turnout was overall lower than in 2022, with slightly above a 40% turnout from local voters this year, but several important issues were on school board ballots across Beaver County. Unofficial data shows 35,105 ballots were cast throughout the day, and election officials received 10,015 mail-in ballots for these local elections.
Several school boards have become battlegrounds for certain political issues over the past year, echoing nationwide trends. The South Side School District made headlines after it temporarily formed a "pronoun committee" to discuss transgender students, and recent changes to Blackhawk School District's policies now allow parents and students to ban books from being used within the district.
The results for the school board races that were contested or had a write-in victor are provided below. Races with single candidates have not been provided but will be available in the full unofficial results for the 2023 election on the Times website.
Ambridge School Board (5 Seats)
Cross-filed Kathy Hribar Fischer: 3,537
Cross-filed Valerie Young: 3,289
Cross-filed William Metz Jr.: 3.052
Cross-filed Mary Jo Kehoe: 2,976
Democrat Garrett Kovacevic: 2,989
Republican Randall Paul Haffley: 2,732
Write-in totals: 137
Beaver School Board (5 Seats)
Democrat Victoria Neeley Bartholomew: 2,553
Democrat Rosemary Rush: 2,350
Cross-filed Robin Thompson: 2,800
Cross-filed Denise Yates: 2,697
Cross-filed Merilu Cutri Hill: 2,525
Republican Luke Berardelli: 2,596
Republican Jarrod Thomas: 2,516
Write-in totals: 126
Blackhawk School Board - Region Three (2 Seats)
Cross-filed Carol Sprinker: 1,242
Democrat Adam Van Zalinge: 1,017
Republican Gwen DeLuca: 862
Write in totals: 14
Central Valley School Board - Region One (1 Seat)
Democrat Dante Lucky Ross: 947
Republican Brandi Patterson: 927
Write-in totals: 5
Ellwood City Area School District (5 Seats)
Cross-filed Jennifer Tomon: 69
Cross-filed Kevin Boariu: 74
Cross-filed Gary Rozanski: 54
Cross-filed Erica Sutkowski Gray: 58
Cross-filed Jean Biehls: 45
Independent Renee Pitrelli: 46
Write-in totals: 4
Midland School Board (5 Seats)
Democrat Stephanie Pennington: 324
Democrat Anthony Ditri: 347
Democrat Richard Corradi: 283
Democrat Samantha Byrd: 289
Democrat Chris Becker: 281
Republican Amy Portonova: 194
Republican Mollie Leavell: 168
Republican Jeffrey Schilinski: 163
Write-in totals: 17
Riverside School Board (5 Seats)
Cross-filed Shawn Plassmeyer: 1,959
Cross-filed Christy Hughes: 1,792
Democrat Jamie Miller: 1,370
Cross-filed Kasey Kraus: 1,718
Cross-filed David Steinbach: 1,740
Republican Alexis Pflugh: 1,479
Write-in totals: 173
South Side School Board - Two-Year Term (1 Seat)
Democrat Sally Cain: 733
Republican Michael Rounds: 1,015
Write in totals: 124
South Side School Board - Four-Year Term (5 Seats)
Democrat Bernice Woodling: 737
Democrat Brenda McCarrell: 672
Democrat Farin Weltner: 698
Democrat Jim Hallisey: 598
Democrat Edgardo Santillan: 507
Republican Robert Tellish: 1,310
Republican Tammy Wilt: 1,114
Republican Julie Winterrowd: 1,155
Republican Kathie Marino: 1,055
Republican Travis Frasier: 1,187
Write-in totals: 18
Western Beaver School Board (5 Seats)
Democrat Paula Kadilak: 658
Democrat Joseph Porto: 581
Democrat John Nadzam: 581
Democrat Hubert Kovalesky: 651
Cross-filed John Sosack: 952
Republican Jonathan Bernard: 929
Republican Brad Cochran: 860
Republican Michael Bertucci: 890
Republican Madeline Hanes: 941
Write-in totals: 30
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Unofficial results for Beaver County school board races released