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Almost half of the seats on the Jersey Shore Area School Board will be filled by newcomers in the beginning in December as only Mary Thomas, board president, won re-election.
Terms of Wayne Kinley, Nancy Petrosky, Patrice Doebler, Angela Grant and Thomas are set to expire as of Dec. 1. Petrosky and Thomas had sought re-election, but Petrosky was unsuccessful in her bid to stay on the board.
School board members with terms that do not expire this year are: Kayla Calhoun, Michelle Stemler, Michael Allen and Jessie Edwards.
The Jersey Shore Area School District is uncommon in that it is situated in two counties, Lycoming and Clinton. Regions I and III are in both counties, while Region II only lies in Lycoming County.
In Region I, Petrosky got 392 votes in Lycoming County and 309 in Clinton; Lillie Langlois garnered 224 in Lycoming and 152 in Clinton County. Neither had the total votes to win a spot on the board. Winners in that region were Cheri Peters with 572 votes in Lycoming and 426 in Clinton and Bill Pfirman, with 492 in Lycoming and 366 in Clinton.
The Region II contest saw Thomas, with 554 votes return for another term, while Timothy McDonnell, with 593 votes, will fill the other position from that region.
Harry Brungard, a former member of the board representing Region III, received 491 votes from Lycoming County and 82 in Clinton County, for a total of 573. Although Brungard was unopposed, 559 write-in votes were cast in that race.
According to information from Voter Services answers to questions or additional information about write-in votes cannot be provided while the official canvass is underway. The official results will be posted on Voter Services' website about 10 days after the election and will include the names and vote totals of successful write-in candidates.
Overall voter turnout in Lycoming County was 35.78% and in Clinton County, 41.31%.
When the new board members begin their duties, they will be faced with several issues that have surfaced repeatedly in the district. Although the board voted earlier this year to keep all schools open, a new board could be called to re-address that situation in light of the cost of maintaining all those buildings.
The contract that was recently approved with the Jersey Shore Education Association has also been a point of contention at board meetings, particularly with members of the community commenting that they feel teacher salaries are out of control.