A crowded field of 10 candidates is in the hunt for four seats on the Greater Latrobe School Board as the district seeks a new superintendent and decisions loom regarding proposed replacement of the junior high’s leak-prone roof and the future of several aging buildings.
Of the four incumbents, a mixed-party trio is running a joint campaign ahead of the May 20 primary election: veteran board members Heidi Kozar and Dr. Rhonda A. Laughlin, who are cross-filed on both party ballots, and Republican Andrew Repko, who is president of the board and is seeking his second term as a school director.
Among others who are cross-filed is first-term incumbent Merle D. Musick —whose father, Merle L., was reelected to the board in 2023.
Cross-filed challengers include Joshua Cunningham, Mary Mullooly, Yelayna Rossi, Thomas B. Long and John Fullmer. Republican candidate Patrick S. Carney fell short in a bid for a board seat in 2023.
Kozar and Laughlin were among a slim majority of board members who voted in 2023 to move forward with a multimillion-dollar plan to update district buildings, including proposed construction and renovations. Repko was among members who successfully voted to halt that plan after several new school directors were elected in November of that year.
More recently, all nine school board members voted to seeks bids for a less extensive project — replacing the roof and making related wall improvements at the junior high. Bids are to be opened on May 23.
Repko, Laughlin and Kozar are among board members who have spoken of the need for a long-range facilities plan for all of the district’s five schools. Latrobe Elementary School opened in December 2018. The district’s two secondary schools and two other elementary buildings all are several decades old.
Repko has said he would like to develop a long-range plan once the district has a new superintendent in place to take part in the effort. Becki Pellis has served as the district’s acting superintendent since Mike Porembka stepped down in December.
In the years ahead, Repko said, he believes the district will need to consolidate or resize its buildings to account for an enrollment decline that is predicted to continue.
“The state is projecting numbers where we’re not going to have enough to fill two elementaries, let alone three,” he said. “The kids it will affect aren’t even born yet, but we have to come up with something and move forward.”
Repko, who has three school-age grandchildren, said the new contract the board recently signed with its teachers will keep the district in a position to attract and retain quality instructors.
“The salaries were raised,” he said. “We’re not the highest in the county, and we’re not the lowest in the county.”
A business owner and past school board president, Laughlin said she knows how to keep costs down. While tax hikes are to be avoided whenever possible, she indicated it’s not realistic to promise to never raise the tax rate.
“To provide premium, not just a basic education, you have to keep and pay for excellent teachers, you have to update science labs, you have to offer updated course work and technology,” she said.
She said the district needs to do a better job of engaging stakeholders.
“I believe we need to have biannual school town hall meetings, meeting rounds with the teachers and perhaps surveys to parents, students and community members to make sure we are getting input as we embark on the future planning in our district,” Laughlin said.
Kozar, who is running for a sixth term, has four grandchildren attending local elementary schools. She said there has been too much focus on the idea of never raising taxes.
“This position is not tenable for either our students or our community,” Kozar said. “For a society to grow, we must invest in our young people.”
Regarding facilities planning, she said, “Without a strategic plan for our capital improvements, I fear we will waste taxpayers dollars through piecemeal allocations and lose even more of the public’s trust. I would hope that we could come to some kind of a consensus and create a plan for how to move forward with our building issues.”
She said she wants to refocus attention on providing support for and celebrating the achievements of Greater Latrobe students and teachers. A member of the curriculum committee, she said she is excited about a proposed new research-based elementary language arts curriculum that has been piloted at district schools.
Musick, who graduated from the district in 2020, said he’s brought a younger perspective to the school board and wants to continue representing his generation on the panel.
Coach of the district clay target team, he recently served as president of the school board and was involved in contract negotiations.
“I want to make sure we keep getting great teachers,” he said. “Our teachers are what sets our school district apart.”
Musick espouses conservative values and said that includes being fiscally conservative.
As for the future of district buildings, he said, “I want to keep our community-based schools. I think that is a strength. I was a student at Baggaley Elementary. I wouldn’t want to take that away.”
A former assistant district football coach, Long chairs the Greater Latrobe Parks and Recreation Commission and has two elementary-enrolled grandchildren.
He said he decided to run for school board “to ensure that my grandchildren and all of our district’s children have access to the same quality education and vibrant arts and competitive athletics programs that Greater Latrobe has provided to its residents for more than 50 years.”
He discussed the importance of investing in professional development for teachers and remaining flexible to meet students’ diverse learning needs. He said the board should take a forward-looking approach to facilities planning while ensuring buildings are safe and structurally sound.
“The best approach is always to listen first,” he said. “We also need to assess what the needs of our students and community are going to be in 10 years to make the best decision for all residents.”
Fullmer said there are too few Greater Latrobe board members who have children enrolled in the district — which he could help reverse, with two kids attending Mountain View Elementary.
He agrees with others who want the district to develop a long-term facilities plan, adding that he would like to maintain community elementary schools. “If we don’t have a 10-year strategy, how do we make decisions now?” he said.
Fullmer said he has worked at being a collaborative leader in his career and believes a similar spirit among district staff and officials will be important in keeping up with the changes technology and artificial intelligence will bring to education.
He said he doesn’t believe the new teacher contract provided salaries that are adequate.
“We’re competing with other districts,” he said. “Our district used to be a super-attractive district,” he said. “Now, with our entry level salaries, it isn’t.”
Cunningham said he would bring to the school board more than two decades of experience in other school systems, including teaching, contract negotiations and administrative responsibilities. He has a daughter attending Mountain View Elementary.
He said the district needs to look for ways to retain teachers with skills that are in high demand, including math and science instructors, while keeping elementary classroom sizes down.
Cunningham said he feels the school board has dragged its feet in pursuing junior high improvements. At the same time, he said, the district should work on a long-term plan for its buildings.
“We need a longer-range plan than simply fixing things as they come up,” he said.
Rossi, who is a district graduate, said she wants Greater Latrobe to strike a balance between fiscal responsibility and instructional excellence.
“The quality of education offered is critical,” she said. “However, the budget and costs also factor into the equation. We need to be sure that the taxpayers do not have constant increases when population is steadily declining in the area.”
She said Greater Latrobe should place a greater emphasis on opportunities for students who want to pursue a trade as a career.
“We need a well-rounded approach that values both academic achievement and practical career readiness,” Rossi said. “We should be creating opportunities for students who are interested in hands-on work — giving them the training, certifications and support they need to step into local jobs and build strong futures right here in our own communities.”
As for district facilities, she said, “It’s time for a more responsible, strategic approach — one that prioritizes maintaining and improving what we have before committing to costly new developments.”
Mullooly has three children who are enrolled at Greater Latrobe. She said she wants to serve on the school board to help ensure it continues to provide high quality education.
“I would seek the opinion of teachers, administrators and parents and experiences to find the best (educational) resources available,” she said.
Mullooly said she would bring to the position experience working with and advocating for special needs children and more than a decade working with foster children.
She said she would seek to work with other board members to address facilities needs.
“Together we could view options and come up with the best solution,” she said.
Carney is a machinist and private airplane and helicopter pilot.
He said Greater Latrobe should place extra emphasis on STEAM course offerings for students as they prepare to compete in an international job market. “We’re lagging behind other countries, especially in science and math,” he said. “I meet a lot of people who can’t do simple math in their head. They lack the skills and the mechanical abilities that employers are seeking.”
He said the district needs to find a way to enhance its instructional resources without placing an extra burden on taxpayers.
“We’ need to watch what we’re spending,” he said. “We need to run our school district like we run our individual households.”
