This is the second in a three-part series featuring a Q&A with the candidates for Ellwood City Borough Council and Ellwood City Area School District’s Board of Directors. Today’s Q&A features Ellwood City Area School District’s Board of Directors candidates Kathleen McCommons, Renee Pitrelli, and Kathy Tillia. Tomorrow’s Q&A will feature school director candidates: Barbara Wilson and Claire Fauzey (Candidates Norman Boots, JoEllen Eichler, and Kathy Pansera did not participate).
Primary Elections are just around the corner. Residents will be able to place their votes on May 18. To find your polling location, click here. To learn more about the voting process and how to cast your vote, click here.
Take a moment to get to know the candidates running for Ellwood City Area School District’s Board of Directors.
Kathy Galbreath McCommons
Former Experience, Roles, and Years Serving on Ellwood City Area School District Board: Currently, I am in my first term as a School Board Director. My leadership roles while on the board include: Education/Student Affairs Chair, Personnel Chair, Negotiation Committee for both the SEIU and the EAEA, Revenue/Finance Committee, Media & Communication Committee, Task Log Secretary, and Recognition Chair.
Why are you running for School Board? I want to continue to give back and serve this community. I believe my education (Bachelors of Education Degree, Masters of Education Degree), experience (current school board member and long -time teacher), knowledge of school policy, invested interest in the ECASD (long time resident of Ellwood City, and 3 daughters in the school district) allow me to have a unique understanding of the district, which is beneficial for decision making. In addition, I want to continue to support our community, hard-working teachers, staff, and above all the students. My education, experience, knowledge gives me unique necessary attributes for a school board director.
If elected, what will be your priorities? My priorities will continue to be to support our community, teachers, staff, and students coming out of a pandemic. I will do this by:
- Not raising taxes during this time. Our community has seen much hardship and job loss.
- Continue to negotiate and settle fair contracts. I helped to negotiate and settle the SEIU contract. I am against outsourcing.
- Support our students by: endorsing programs such as: Title 1, tutoring, enrichment programs, raising graduation credits, offering more course selection to meet the needs of students.
- Oppose reduction of teachers.
In addition, I will continue to support Safety, Security, and Technology to ensure our students stay safe and competitive with other districts.
Is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on the board? Over my term as a board member, I have seen several issues that continue to motivate me. I want to ensure our community keeps jobs in our school district by not outsourcing. In addition, I believe I have been a consistent vote of support for the students, staff and teachers in this district. My votes will continue to support the students and school community with academics, safety, security, and technology improvements.
What particular experiences or skills have prepared you to serve as a board member? Being a currant school board member, long-time teacher and the Ellwood City Elementary PTO President for over a decade have given me great insight to the workings of this district. Working for years with our families, students, teachers, staff, and administration gave me invaluable information to base my decisions. These experiences and a firm knowledge on policies are a unique and foster the ability to make beneficial decisions for our schools and community.
In what school district or community activities/organizations have you been involved? I have served as a School Director for the last 3 years, however my most notable service to the community was serving as the Ellwood City Elementary PTO President for over a decade. In addition, I have also served as a Girls Scout Troop leader for 5 years.
What differentiates you from the other candidates and/or board members? My love and knowledge of school policy, education, and experience differentiates me from others.
What issues do you believe your district needs to address in its academic program and offerings? What changes would you recommend? To keep our students competitive, as they graduate, we need to raise our existing graduation credit requirements. In addition, offering a greater variety of courses would ensure all students who graduate are competitive and prepared for whatever path they choose.
What should your school district do to better prepare students as citizens? Social and emotional attributes are at the forefront of citizenship. I believe our teachers and guidance counselors are doing a great job implementing additional SEL (social emotional learning) curriculum to help foster and encourage key social and emotional growth.
As a board member, where would you look to make budget cuts? Our budget consists of numerous fixed costs, which means there is very little auxiliary left to cut. I would continue to make all budget decisions based on facts with students at the forefront of all decisions, as well as continue to encourage obtaining grants, which would offset the very tight budget.
How does a school board balance the need to provide a quality education with the need to respond to the local taxpayer burden? The school board has a fiduciary duty to our community. We must be frugal and mindful as we pass budgets so as not to incur unnecessary spending while continuing to provide a quality education.
What attributes are essential for successful school board members? Essential attributes are: honesty, spirit of service, and ability to make decisions based on facts and policy.
How would you handle the requests, if approached, by an individual? Special interest groups? I would base all requests on policy and procedure, keeping in mind fairness to all groups.
How can you contribute to a successful board meeting? I contribute to a successful board meeting by doing my due diligence which includes reading policy and gathering facts for upcoming discussions and decisions. As well as, listening when questions and concerns are raised by students, teachers, staff and community. In addition, I have demonstrated a willingness to speak up when issues arise that need addressed or clarified.
What do you see as the current challenges facing public education in our state? In our country? The current challenges facing public education both locally and nationally are funding and supporting our students and teachers coming out of a pandemic.
What are 2-3 strengths of which our district can be proud? Why do you see these as strengths? Our district has many strengths and many things to be proud of! I believe our district’s top 3 strengths are: Our Students, Our Teachers, Our Staff. The quote that hangs in the middle of town says, “What Ellwood City Builds, Builds Ellwood City”. I realize this quote refers to the era when we were a steel town, but I see it differently. I believe there is no greater strength than our children and those who help ‘build’ them daily. I keep that thought in the forefront of all my decisions.
What are 2-3 needs that must be priorities for our district to address? Why do you see these as needs? A few priorities to encourage growth and development for our district are: continued SEL (social emotional learning) support for students, curriculum updates, continued updates as needed for security/safety, technology, and facilities.
If elected, what would you hope would be key accomplishments of the board during your years of service? I would be honored to serve this community with additional years of service. The key accomplishment would be to continue to build a strong school community. My decisions would continue to be based on facts and policy. Decisions would also be based on supporting our community, which includes not outsourcing and negotiating and settling fair contracts. I have and would continue to demonstrate support for safety, security, and technology, and above all, continue to prioritize our students.
Renee Pitrelli
Former Experience, Roles, and Years Serving on Ellwood City Area School District Board: I first became interested in serving on the School Board while I was a member of the district’s Steering Committee and I went to the School Board meetings as the PTO representative. I am currently finishing my second 4-year term. While on the Board I have had the honor of being President for 2 years and was a part of EAEA, SEIU and ACT 93 contract negotiations in addition to other Committees. I also have the privilege of representing Ellwood City as a board member at the MIU4 for over 5 years, 2 of which I served as Treasurer.
Why are you running for School Board? If elected, what will be your priorities? The students are my reason and my priority. I would love the opportunity to continue to move the district forward for the betterment of our students, staff and community. My priorities include, updating the curriculum, completing our security plan, and to explore options to better meet the educational, social, and emotional needs of our students, all while being fiscally responsible to the community.
Is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on the board? Our students motivate me to serve on the board I would like to see the district expand opportunities to meet the individual needs of all students while demonstrating consistency and fairness amongst both staff and students.
What particular experiences or skills have prepared you to serve as a board member? Serving on the Steering Committee and PTO showed me there is need for community involvement. The past 8 years volunteering on various boards have taught me a great deal and I would like to use that knowledge to continue my service on the school board. I am not afraid to ask the difficult questions or take on challenges if it will benefit our students and/or the community.
In what school district or community activities/organizations have you been involved? I currently sit on Zoning Hearing Board, Recreation Board, and the Economic Development Authority for the Ellwood City Borough. I am in my second 4-year term on School Board, sit on the MIU4 Board, am involved in Band Boosters, help with our school Musicals, and was a member of PTO.
What differentiates you from the other candidates and/or board members? I have 8 years of experience serving on the Ellwood Board, 2 of which I served as president and over 5 years serving on the MIU4 Board, 2 years as Treasurer. I have experience with school policies, State and Federal guidelines, working with a large budget, and negotiating contracts. I also believe that all our students should leave with the skills to be able to compete in a global economy and be responsible citizens.
What issues do you believe your district needs to address in its academic program and offerings? What changes would you recommend? I believe that our district would benefit from updating our curriculum to ensure our student have access to up-to-date resources. I also feel as though we need to provide our staff professional development opportunities that will enable them to increase the quality of their instruction to help develop students who are critical thinkers and problem solvers.
What should your school district do to better prepare students as citizens? Our district needs to ensure that we build a strong foundation in core subjects, communication, and technology skills. We also need to expand our options for students to explore their interests and gain hands-on/real world experiences that will enable them to develop the skills to be successful citizens.
As a board member, where would you look to make budget cuts? Unfortunately, there are not many places in the budget to cut. With the rising costs of pensions, Special Education and lack of Charter school reform topped with inadequate state funding for school districts, it has become difficult to balance a budget.
How does a school board balance the need to provide a quality education with the need to respond to the local taxpayer burden? It has become increasingly more difficult to balance especially in the middle of a pandemic. We are working towards short- and long-term goals for the district so we have a roadmap to our goals that hopefully will not burden our taxpayers.
What attributes are essential for successful school board members? I believe patience, the ability to agree to disagree, and the willingness to work as a team are essential attributes of a school board member.
How would you handle the requests, if approached, by an individual? Special interest groups? I would listen and acknowledge their concerns and then inform them of the chain of command and the process that they need to follow to get their matter resolved.
How can you contribute to a successful board meeting? By listening, asking questions, gathering information, being prepared and respectful so we can make informed decisions as a board.
What do you see as the current challenges facing public education in our state? In our country? Being in the middle of a Pandemic has created many new challenges not to mention the old ones for public education. Giving our students a quality education while dealing with Covid and the constantly changing guidance from the state, the transition to virtual learning, unfair charter school costs, increased Special Education costs, shortage of teachers, budget pressures and most importantly how to keep our students healthy while providing a quality education in a safe environment.
What are 2-3 strengths of which our district can be proud? Why do you see these as strengths? Our greatest strengths lie within the individuals that staff and support our schools. Without our parents, students, administration, teachers, secretaries, aides, coaches, custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, and our entire community, we would not have made it through the challenges of this past year. I am proud of each of these individuals and know that they will continue to strengthen our district though continuing to build healthy relationships and produce intelligent young men and women that will be prepared to meet the challenge called life.
What are 2-3 needs that must be priorities for our district to address? Why do you see these as needs? I feel that we need to work on establishing short- and long-term goals for the district. We must help our students to make up for the losses of this past year not only educationally but also social and emotionally. We need to improve our curriculum and school culture. Educating our students is the reason we exist, so that must always be our priority. Establishing goals for the district will help us be fiscally responsible to the community. It is so important for our children to feel safe in school, so we need to create a healthy and safe environment that is fair and consistent for all students.
If elected, what would you hope would be key accomplishments of the board during your years of service? As stated above, I would like to develop short- and long-term goals that keep us fiscally responsible to our community. I would like to update our curriculum, finish our security plan and to see all our students develop the skills needed to become successful citizens.
Kathy Tillia
Former Experience, Roles, and Years Serving on Ellwood City Area School District Board: This is my first time running for Ellwood city area school district school board. I am a caregiver for many young and old folks through the years, and 13 of those years caring for people for Home Instead. I love helping people, and want to make a difference by being on school board for our school.
Why are you running for School Board? I decided to run for school board because I want to do better for the school district, and care about the kids, education, and also had a long-time family member on school board before who has passed away. I learned a lot from her.
Is there a particular issue that motivates you to serve on the board? Priorities if elected making sure kids get a good education and trying to keep budget down.
What particular experiences or skills have prepared you to serve as a board member? Being open to help all kids in a day care-preschool setting. I was a teacher’s aide and now with being an employee for Home Instead Senior Care, I can see how folks in our small town live on a fixed income. We need to keep taxes down and make sure children get a good education as well. Also, a willingness to listening to others decisions or opinions at meetings.
What differentiates you from the other candidates and/or board members? An openness to different policy and what administration brings forward.
What issues do you believe your district needs to address in its academic program and offerings? What changes would you recommend? Our district needs to address the math program in certain grades and offerings. Math needs to be taught differently.
What should your school district do to better prepare students as citizens? Our school district can better prepare students as citizens by the choices they make and common sense.
As a board member, where would you look to make budget cuts? As a board member look at salaries, insurance savings, to make budget cuts, or people that rent maybe should pay a school tax.
How does a school board balance the need to provide a quality education with the need to respond to the local taxpayer burden? Taxpayers would be in my thoughts always as fiscal decisions are being made.
What attributes are essential for successful school board members? Looking inward and asking “How can we be leaner?” I know we have excellent staff at the administrative level, but very top heavy. We need to ask what needs done with our building? We need to address the decrease in enrollment and the need to keep taxes down.
How would you handle the requests, if approached, by an individual? Special interest groups? Listen and write it down and bring it to attention of the superintendent at meeting or before.
How can you contribute to a successful board meeting? I feel to have a successful board meeting take time and listen to issues, vote on conscience or from the heart, and take time to make a decision.
What do you see as the current challenges facing public education in our state? In our country? Some current challenges facing in education in our state are state funding, technology in education, disciplinary actions, common core, charter schools and voucher programs. In our country some changes to standardized testing needs done or possibly doing away with it.
What are 2-3 strengths of which our district can be proud? Why do you see these as strengths?
- Math and reading proficiency ranking is good for scores overall for both in our district. The overall student graduation rate is good.
- Great staff and teachers that care about the students.
- Great after school sports and our small town community involvement is good too in our little town of Ellwood City.
What are 2-3 needs that must be priorities for our district to address? Why do you see these as needs? Building needs some updating at Lincoln high school and keeping a good education in our district in an ever-changing world.
If elected, what would you hope would be key accomplishments of the board during your years of service? If elected, I would hope my key accomplishments would be helping give the children a good, balanced education and a balanced budget to hopefully keep taxes not going up or very much. If elected, I hope to establish a high expectation necessary for students and staff. I hope to help make good decisions, to help establish enthusiasm for learning more daily, and to get essential skills in having a good solid education to continue further learning. I would hope to learn something new, or it will be a day wasted for me. In the end, I want to feel I made a positive difference to one person or many after my time as school board director.
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