Four candidates — three incumbents and one newcomer — will run for the four available seats on the Penn-Trafford School Board this spring.
Region II incumbents Bryan Kline and Richard Niemiec, along with Region III incumbent Toni Ising, will seek another four-year term.
Penn Township Police Chief John Otto is running for the open Region I seat left vacant by board member Martin Stovar, who is not seeking reelection.
The primary election is May 20. All four candidates cross-filed as Democrat and Republican.
Jay Johnson, a prospective Republican candidate, was removed from the primary ballot March 21. Johnson was one valid signature short of the required 10 he needed to qualify for the ballot, according to Common Pleas Judge Harry Smail Jr.
Education top priority
Maintaining a quality education at the district is a priority for Ising, Kline and Otto. Niemiec declined an interview with TribLive regarding the election.
“I think we at Penn-Trafford have a lot to be proud of,” said Ising, who has served on the board since 2009.
“We have a great administrative team, great staff, great parents, great kids, and it shows,” she said. “I’d like to work on continuing that tradition.”
Ising has lived in Penn Township more than four decades. Each of her children attended the school district, two of whom went on to become educators.
Education has always been important to Ising, who taught math and computer science part-time at University of Pittsburgh from 1985 to 1997. She now works part-time as a software engineering consultant.
Ising also aims to prioritize Penn-Trafford’s supports for special education students, including the district’s paraprofessionals and Special Olympics Unified sports teams. One of her daughters, who was born with a disability, died in 2009.
“When our daughter was born in 1990,” she said, “we were told at that time ‘You’re lucky to live in Penn-Trafford. Penn-Trafford makes sure that they properly service these kids and we found that to be true.
“I want to make sure that we continue to do that,” she said.
Candidates talk property taxes, building improvements
Kline, running for a second term, aims to maintain property tax rates for residents.
“In the four years that I’ve been on the school board, I’ve never voted for a tax increase,” said Kline, who has lived in Penn Township for more than a decade. “When I first ran, I said I wouldn’t vote for one unless it involved student safety, and I still make that commitment.”
Kline is inspired to run for a second term by his son, a sixth grade student at the district’s Penn Middle School.
“That’s my passion,” he said. “That’s my why.”
As the district’s facilities continue to age, Kline said building maintenance will be another priority of the board across the next four years.
The district has recently targeted roof replacements on several of its buildings, including Harrison Park Elementary School. The board voted in May to submit a grant application to help cover the $623,400 project cost.
The board also voted in 2023 to purchase a new administration building, replacing the more than 100-year-old facility located on Harrison City-Export Road for a $1.7 million space in Bushy Run Corporate Park.
“We’ve been doing a good job at chiseling away at things over the past four years,” Kline said.
‘An opportunity to stay active in the community’
A Penn-Trafford area native and 30-year employee of the Penn Township Police Department, Otto said he is running for school board to maintain his involvement in his hometown community.
“I jumped on it — really, I did,” Otto said, recounting a phone call with a friend who told him about a vacant spot on the board.
“It’s not because I have any particular interest or agenda. It’s just an opportunity to stay active in the community that I’ve been born, raised, lived in my entire life.”
Though he has led the police department as chief for 15 years, Otto worked as the district’s first school resource officer early on in his career.
“We visit all of the schools on a daily basis as a police department,” said Otto, a Penn-Trafford graduate and father to two alumni. “We’re in the schools. We’re talking to the staff members, to the teachers and even the kids.”
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Otto said one of his main priorities is to provide a quality education at a reasonable cost to taxpayers.
“We are not a district that has a very diverse tax base,” he said. “All of the communities that make up the Penn-Trafford School District are, basically, bedroom communities.”
Penn Township, for example, receives 84% of its real estate taxes from residential taxpayers, according to township secretary/manager Mary Perez. Township officials are weighing a series of zoning changes aimed at increasing economic development.
“I’m looking to continue the legacy of a really good quality public school education at a reasonable price,” he said.