Schools
Field Set for School Board and Council Candidates in Peters
Seven seek five spots on school board — Buzzatto will not seek re-election; four to seek two spots on council.
There will be races for members of the school board and township council in the Peters' primary elections.
The Washington County Board of Elections listed the candidates for all offices in the county on Wednesday, following the deadline for withdrawal of nominating petitions. The spring primaries will be held on May 17.
In the race for school board, Diane Ritter, Thomas McMurray, Lynn Erenberg and Julie Ann Sullivan all filed for re-election. Running in addition to the incumbents are Ronald Dunleavy, Gregory Cox and William Merrell. All the candidates have cross-filed, having their names appear on both the Democrat and Republican ballots.
Find out what's happening in Peterswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
On the Republican side, Dunlevy will have the first position, followed by Ritter, McMurray, Erenberg, Cox, Sullivan and Merrell. Ritter will appear on the top of the Democrat ballots, followed by McMurray, Sullivan, Cox, Merrell, Dunlevy and Erenberg. Voters will elect five board members to a four-year term.
Dr. Mark Buzzatto, a Peters Township resident who has served on the school board since 1999, will not seek re-election.
Find out what's happening in Peterswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
"I'm no longer happy with how our district does its business," Buzzatto said in a statement. "Educational and financial decisions are being made without well-researched consideration of their impact on students, staff or taxpayer. These days there's too much talk about lawsuits and buyouts, and not enough talk about educating the kids.
"I leave the board with the irony of knowing that I've helped private businesses deal with the current economic downturn through continuous process improvement and by helping those companies eliminate "waste" (any non-value added activity) from their organizations, while the school board refused my offer of providing these same services at no cost to the district," Buzzatto continued.
In the race for township council, Robert Atkison and Robert Lewis have filed as Republican candidates for re-election to a four-year term. Meghan Jones-Rolla and Theodore (Ted) Taylor also have filed for the Republican nomination. Voters will elect two candidates. There were no Democrats to file petitions for township council.
