Building projects, staffing among priorities for Hempfield Area's school board candidates

Renovation projects. Teacher recruitment and retention. Student performance. Open communication with the community.

These are the priorities for the five candidates running for four open spots on the Hempfield Area School Board this year. Two candidates are incumbents — Jerry Radebaugh and Scott Learn. The newcomers are Cory Thoma, Lindsay Stevens and Daniel Graft.

Veteran board members Paul Ward and Diane Ciabattoni, whose terms expire at the end of the year, are not running for reelection.

The primary election is May 20. All five candidates cross-filed as Democrat and Republican.

High school renovation

Nearly all of the candidates cited the district’s high school renovation project as one of the board’s primary responsibilities during the next four years.

The district halted the high school renovation in August 2023 when bids for some of the work came in over budget. Core Architects, the original architect for the project, resigned in February.

Hempfield later hired Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, which laid out visions for the project in October, touching on improvement priorities and potential schematic designs.

A two-story addition to the building’s front entrance will be a key component of the renovation — serving as a hub for innovation.

Radebaugh, who is seeking a second term, said the district has the right team in place to push the renovation project forward.

“We have a lot of great momentum going forward with that,” said Radebaugh, father of three Hempfield graduates and a current Hempfield middle school student. “It feels like we have the right building for the students, the teachers and the community.”

Thoma, a newcomer, would like to see more information on the high school renovation shared with the community.

“I think they went back to the drawing board, and I think they’re still in the drawing board for the most part,” said Thoma, who is also running for reelection on New Stanton Borough Council. “I don’t think we have enough public information made available really to go off to say whether or not any good or bad decisions are being made.”

Thoma ran for election in 2021 and 2023 — aiming to bring his expertise with data to the board. He felt the board improperly used statistics to drive its decisions in the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic.

“I spent four years in college and then seven years in grad school working with math and data,” said Thoma, a senior software engineer at Arcadia and adjunct professor at Washington & Jefferson College. “I decided then that I could bring some experience with handling data and the proper way to look at the data that we’re given.”

Teacher retirements

The board will need to support the district through impending teacher retirements, Radebaugh said.

Between 100 and 120 teachers are expected to retire in the next few years, Superintendent Mark Holtzman said during a March school board meeting.

“And that’s going to be a challenge because there’s not as many teachers coming out of college that there used to be,” said Radebaugh, a former Westmoreland County purchasing director and a 17-year employee of Jeannette’s Elliott Co.

Pennsylvania has seen a slight improvement in teacher attrition rates, according to a report published in July by Penn State education professor Ed Fuller. After reporting a record high statewide teacher attrition rate of 7.7% in 2023, the rate dropped to 6.7% last year in 2024, Fuller said.

But the state’s shortage of certified teachers is still on the forefront of educators’ minds statewide.

More than 2,300 teaching positions were vacant in Pennsylvania as of January, according to data released by the state. This is an increase in about 150 vacancies from the October 2023 report — the first of its kind.

About 50% of those positions were filled by long or short-term substitute teachers, while the rest remained vacant — resolved by teachers covering classes during their free periods or students being assigned to other sections of a course.

The board also will be tasked with continuing to support its new administrative team, said incumbent Scott Learn, who is seeking a third term.

Holtzman started his role as superintendent in July.

“We finally have a great leader in Dr. Holtzman and (Assistant Superintendents) Dr. (Matthew) Conner, Dr. (Kimberlie) Rieffannacht,” Learn said. “I just see a lot of positive things going forward that I’d like to be a part of.”

A general dentist in Latrobe, Learn aims to continue the work he has done through the board’s joint operating committee with the Central Westmoreland Career and Technology Center.

“I’m pretty passionate about what’s going on down there, because not every student’s going to go to college,” he said. “There’s a lot of students that are going into the trades, and our CWCTC has got a great leader and leadership group down there.”

Student success

Newcomer Stevens, a district parent who owns Tiny Town Early Learning child care center in Hempfield, has attended every school board meeting for the past four years. She aims to guide the board toward transparency with students and parents.

“I don’t think there’s enough communication,” said Stevens, a certified teacher. “I don’t think parents and community members are informed about the process as much as they could be, and I would like to be a new strong voice that ensures that future decisions are made thoughtfully and in the best interests of our students, our parents and our community.”

Supporting students who are behind in their learning is also a priority for Stevens.

“I think we need to find other ways to improve that and help our students succeed to their best ability,” she said.

This is particularly important as performance on state tests remain lower than pre-pandemic levels.

New candidate Graft thinks the district should focus on “getting back to the basics with academics.”

“I think it’s just (about) challenging the current model and getting creative and thinking outside the box, versus always just being status quo,” said Graft, who works in medical sales.

Graft, whose wife is a teacher in the Southmoreland School District, said he also intends to advocate for Hempfield’s teachers and taxpayers.

“I’m running simply just to do a civic duty of rolling my sleeves up and pitching in,” he said, “not because I’m necessarily after anything specifically or attacking anything.

“For me, it’s more taking what currently is working and bringing new ideas and making it better.”