Morella Allies with New Members to Elect Pitrelli School Board President

With the support of three new members, Renee Pitrelli was elected President of the Ellwood City Area School Board at Thursday’s reorganization meeting.

It was a contested vote.

At the start of yesterday’s meeting, Mike Nuepauer sat in the president’s chair and LeRoy Cortez served as vice-president. Both favored keeping things as is and were supported by Anthony Buzzelli and Kathy Pansera. Each of the four has served at least two terms.

However, board members Renee Pitrelli and Matt Morella had different plans. Backed by the three new members, Erica Gray, Jennifer Tomon and Danielle Woodhead, Pitrelli ended the meeting in the president’s chair with the gavel. Morella was elected vice-president.

Following the reorganization, the board approved the meeting schedule for 2016. Pitrelli proposed the creation of committees, starting with discussing a budget committee in January. According to Pitrelli, a budget committee will the give the board an early involvement in the budget planning.

Traditionally, district administration, led by Business Manager Richard Zarone, formulates a budget proposal for the board to discuss in April.

Thursday’s meeting was the last meeting for board members George Garda, Bob Stevenson and Jennifer Grossman, who chose not to run for re-election. However, Stevenson and Grossman were absent.

New members Gray, Tomon, and Woodhead and incumbents Cortez and Neupauer were sworn in.

The vote breakdown is as follows:

President/Vice-President
Pitrelli/Morella: Gray, Morella, Pitrelli, Tomon and Woodhead
Nuepauer/Cortez- Buzzelli, Cortez, Nuepauer and Pansera

Breakdown of Candidate Terms

• LeRoy Cortez: sworn in for fourth term
• Anthony Buzzelli: serving third term
• Erica Gray: sworn in for first term
• Matt Morella: serving first term
• Mike Nuepauer: sworn in for third term
• Kathy Pansera: serving third term
• Renee Pitrelli: serving first term
• Jennifer Tomon: sworn in for first term
• Danielle Woodhead: sworn in for first term

Clockwise from left: Mike Nuepauer, Jennifer Tomon, Erica Gray, Danielle Woodhead and LeRoy Cortez take the Oath of Office. Seated are Matt Morella, Anthony Buzzelli and Kathy Pansera.