Gateway school board appoints former member to fill vacancy

Scott Williams was appointed to a vacant seat on the Gateway School Board of Directors during a special meeting Dec. 22.

The seat was left open after James Lomeo decided against joining after being elected Nov. 2. In a Nov. 29 letter, Lomeo informed the board he was recovering from lingering health issues related to covid-19 that would keep him from serving for at least several months.

Williams was previously on the board from 2001 until losing a reelection bid in November.

“It’s good to be back,” Williams said. “There are some things I’d like to see through, like the renovation project of the junior high school. … I was surprised that James didn’t take the seat. They asked if I was interested. I said, ‘Yeah, I’d be interested.’

“If I got on, good. If I did not, oh well. It worked out that I guess the school board feels that I’m an individual they can work with. There’s a nice group of individuals on there. Hopefully we can get back to regular school board work and get some things done.”

Three members were sworn in during a meeting Dec. 8. Robin Mungo retained her seat after receiving 3,822 votes in the election, second behind Lomeo’s 4,209. Leslie McBride and Mandal Singh were also seated.

Following that meeting, Lomeo had 10 days to reconsider and take the oath of office under the Pennsylvania School Code. The vacancy was made official at the Dec. 22 special meeting. The board had 30 days to fill his seat, which it decided to do immediately.

There was debate on how a new member should be appointed. Some board members felt the recent election should provide the groundwork for a decision, awarding the seat to the unsuccessful candidate with the most votes. Others thought the seat should be open to any individual in Monroeville or Pitcairn.

“The discussion, in general, on how to fill the vacancy seemed to be divided into the two camps,” said Jack Bova, board president. “People that thought it should be open to all interested and those who thought the last election was recent enough that that should be honored or, at least, considered. I was, kind of from the beginning, in that second camp.”

Gary DeLorenzo received 3,092 votes in the election, 64 behind Singh. Williams fell short of DeLorenzo with 2,914 votes.

The board considered DeLorenzo in an initial vote on Dec. 22, which resulted in a 4-4 split. A motion to appoint Williams was then held, leading to a 5-3 vote in favor.

John Ritter, Leslie McBride, Mary Beth Cirucci and Bova casted affirmative votes for each candidate. Susan Delaney, Mungo and Singh voted in the negative. Valerie Warning served as the swing, voting for Williams after casting against DeLorenzo.

Once the motion to seat DeLorenzo failed, Bova said he thought it sensible to also vote for Williams.

“(DeLorenzo) did not get the necessary votes,” Bova said. “At that point, if someone had offered a name from the community at large, I would have certainly considered that. But the next person who was nominated was indeed the second runner-up.

“Again, just to be consistent with what I thought was the best way to fill this particular vacancy, I selected Scotty. It was just a happy coincidence that he’s had 20 years of honorable service to the board.”

The board has filled a vacant seat twice in less than two months. After previously serving on the board from 2018-19, Bova rejoined Nov. 9 to fill a vacancy left by the resignation of the Rev. Scott Gallagher on Sept. 27.

“Over the years, we’ve appointed numerous people to the board to fill vacancies,” Williams said. “It’s just the flavor of the board at the time, how they go about it. They can open it up, or they can just appoint someone.”