Five positions available on Laurel Highlands School Board
In the upcoming primary, eight candidates will battle for five available seats on Laurel Highlands School Board. Laurel Highlands is the only school district in Fayette County where voting is done by region.
In Region 1, incumbents Edward S. George and Angelo Giachetti will battle Curtis Jacobs for two seats in the May 15 primary.
In Region 2, with one seat open, challenger Lynette F. Andaloro will face off against incumbent and current school board president Cathy Rice.
And in Region 3, Carmen M. Galderisi, Norma Santore and Thomas A. Vernon will seek two open seats, with no incumbents running in the region’s race.
All eight of the candidates have cross-filed for the Democratic and Republican nominations. The candidates recently met with the Herald-Standard editorial board for a debate broadcast on HSTV. All of the candidates were asked the same questions.
During the debate, which was divided into two sessions, only two of the eight candidates said they favored voting for school directors by region, while three of the candidates said they favored voting at-large and three of the candidates said they didn’t feel strongly on the matter either way.
In March, the current school board rejected a proposal that would have let voters decide by referendum how they would wish to vote in future elections, either by regions or at-large.
George, who’s currently serving his second term on the school board and was the former president, said as a school director he believes voting by region “works well” at Laurel Highlands, saying it’s an “excellent system.”
However, as a private resident, George said he has “no business” saying whether he is for or against regional voting and said he believes it should be up to the public to decide.
Jacobs, who is retired from working in the coal mines, where he worked as both a laborer and manager, said he also is in favor of regional voting, adding that he believes it keeps the school board well balanced. On the other side, Giachetti, Andaloro and Galderisi all said they personally believe voting at-large would be better for the district.
Giachetti, a school director for 20 years, said he is “definitely in favor of voting at-large.” Giachetti said he’s brought the issue up to the board the last three times and that the board has continually voted against letting the public decide by asking residents how they would like to vote, either at-large or by region, in a referendum question.
Andaloro, a local businesswoman who recently served on the district’s tax study commission, said residents should be able to vote for all school board members, not just those who represent their region.
Once elected, school directors represent the whole district, not just a region, she said.
Like Giachetti and Andaloro, Galderisi said he’s for at-large voting and said he, too, believes the matter should be placed on the ballot as a referendum. Galderisi is retired after 36 years of employment at Laurel Highlands, where he worked as a teacher and administrator.
Saying they don’t feel strongly about the issue either way, Rice, Santore and Vernon said there are pros and cons to voting by region.
Rice, who’s serving her third term on school board, said last month she voted against placing a referendum question on the ballot, but said it doesn’t matter to her whether or not voting is done by region or at-large.
“I don’t think it makes much difference,” she said, however noting that she does not believe Laurel Highlands should vote at-large just because all the other districts in the county do so.
Santore, a former Fayette County sheriff, and Vernon, who previously served on the Laurel Highlands School Board, both made statements similar to those of Rice.
Santore said she needed to know more about the issue before deciding, while Vernon said he believes the public should vote on the matter.
Act 1 legislation
On another topic, all eight candidates said they are against the Act 1 tax legislation.
Last year, school districts were required by state law to form at least a five-member tax study commission whose members had the option to increase the earned income tax, create a personal income tax or recommend no change to the district’s existing tax structure under the Pennsylvania Taxpayer Relief Act, commonly known as Act 1. According to the legislation, the revenue generated from the proposed increased earned income tax rate would be used to reduce taxes on qualified residential and farmstead properties.
All of the candidates, with the exception of Santore, referred to Act 1 as a tax shift, saying it provided no tax relief for most people. Incumbents George, Giachetti and Rice said Act 1 is an example of poor legislation at the state level and said they personally won’t vote for it, but said the district’s tax study commission did an excellent job.
“Unfortunately, they wasted their time,” George said, noting that those at the state level pushed the legislation on local school boards.
George and Giachetti both said they would favor an increased sales tax over the proposed legislation.
“Vote no on Act 1,” Giachetti said, noting that a small sales tax increase would be fairer to all taxpayers.
Newcomers Jacobs, Andaloro, Galderisi, Santore and Vernon also said Act 1 is poor legislation from Harrisburg.
As a member of the tax study commission, Andaloro said people who make more than $35,000 annually would pay more in earned income tax that they would get in property tax relief. “I don’t think it’s good legislation,” she said.
Jacobs, Galderisi and Vernon said they would rather see the sales tax increase.
Hiring practices
As for other issues affecting school districts, candidates spoke about nepotism and hiring practices. All said they believe the most-qualified candidate should be hired and said they wouldn’t vote, if elected, on any matter that involves a relative.
Those running for election in Region 1 all said they had relatives – cousins, nieces and/or nephews – who work in the district. Jacobs said his wife also is employed as a secretary.
George, Giachetti and Jacobs said they don’t see why the relative of a school board member should not be hired if they are the most-qualified candidate.
George, who said he has a niece who serves as assistant cheerleading coach and a cousin on the substitute list, said it wouldn’t be fair if the best-qualified person were punished because he or she is related to someone who serves on the school board, which is voluntary.
Giachetti said he, too, has a niece who works for the district and a nephew who applied for a coaching position but didn’t get it. “You look at the qualifications and vote for the best,” he said.
In Region 2, Rice and Andaloro both said they don’t have any relatives that they know of currently employed with the school district. Both said school directors should look at qualifications and not names when hiring.
In Region 3, Galderisi and Vernon both said their wives are employed with the district. Vernon said he also has a daughter who is a teacher at Laurel Highlands.
Santore said she has a daughter-in-law who works in administration.
Galderisi said he would like to see a policy put into place where names are left off applications and a numerical system is used to rank the candidates. That way, school directors would not know the identity of the person they were about to hire until after all of the candidates’ qualifications were reviewed, he said.
Vernon said he was on the school board when both his wife and daughter were hired but said he abstained from voting to hire them in both cases.
While he said he believes the best candidate should he hired, Vernon also said he doesn’t believe a family member should be disqualified if they are the best candidate for the job.
Health-care costs
As for unrelated issues involving early retirement and health care for district employees, specifically teachers, all eight candidates agreed that health-care costs are rising and that the school board and teacher’s union will have to work together to provide health care for teachers and their families without making the district go bankrupt.
The school district currently allows teachers to retire early, at the age of 55, agreeing to pay their health insurance until Medicare covers them.
George, Giachetti, Jacobs, Rice and Vernon said teachers may have to begin paying co-pays if health insurance costs keep rising.
Rice said allowing teachers to retire early and agreeing to pay for their health insurance is a “catch-22.”
Teachers at the high end of the pay scale can make almost $45,000 more than teachers at the low end of the pay scale, Rice said. However, she pointed out that rising health-care costs may eventually offset the amount of money the district is able to save by hiring a less-experienced teacher.
Andaloro said she would have to “look at the figures” before making a decision as to whether or not early retirement with paid benefits should be an option and whether employees should make co-pays.
If elected, Santore said she would like to put together a committee to research the matter and see what would be the most cost-effective for the district.
Galderisi, who retired early from Laurel Highlands, said if elected, he unfortunately could not vote to allow employees to retire early with full benefits like he did, noting that the “exorbitant amount” is now too expensive for the district.