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Wednesday, May 21, 2003

When Lenora Karpa decided to join her husband, John, as a candidate for the Sto-Rox school board, they agreed on one campaign slogan that reads -- what else -- "It Takes Two."

	More Primary 2003 Coverage • Visit Allegheny County's election page for more details on county races. • Download a detailed .pdf file of unofficial primary voting results for Allegheny and Westmoreland counties published in the late edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this file. Tables with primary results for Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene and Washington counties will be published in Thursday print editions of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. • For more reports from around the region on yesterday's primary visit our Elections page.

John, 56, has been on the school board for the past 12 years, and also served a term in the 1980s. He said he's always believed that retired educators should be on the school board because their expertise is needed for hiring superintendents and in curriculum issues.

Lenora heeded John's theory and became a candidate after she retired from her Sto-Rox teaching job in January 2003, making her eligible for the school board.

According to unofficial results last night, John Karpa was a winner on both the Republican and Democratic tickets. Lenora won a seat on the Republican ticket.

Nine candidates were on the ballot for five slots, including one of Lenora's former students at Sto-Rox High School, where she taught government courses for 32 years. She is 55 years old.

The Karpas have been married for 33 years and live in Stowe.

What follows are details on some other suburban district elections around the region. Most candidates for school board cross-filed on both party tickets.

Bethel Park

Nine candidates were vying for five open school board seats, including two incumbents, David Amaditz, 42, a disabled veteran, and Charles Koch, 60, director of fiscal management for the Chartiers Valley School District. Amaditz won nominations on the Democratic and Republican tickets, according to unofficial results released early this morning; Koch won on the Republican ticket.

Also winning both parties' nominations were Amaditz's running mates Donna Cook, 44, president of the PTA-PTO Council; and Susan Gout, 41, a controller.

Of Koch's running mates, only Steven Regan, 36, an attorney, emerged a winner in yesterday's primary, winning on both party tickets.

Vince Sortino, a 39-year-old special education teacher in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District, won a seat on the Democratic ticket.

Hampton

Four first time candidates and two incumbents secured nominations for school board member.

Incumbents Karene Scott and Lawrence Vasko, along with newcomers Amy Bianconi and Susan DiPerna Comerci, won on both the Democratic and Republican tickets. John Boyle won on the Democratic and Robert Shages on the Republican ticket.

The hot-button issue for many candidates revolved around middle school renovations that were over budget, state education funding and tax breaks for seniors.

James Balik, David Gurwin and Gary Williams were defeated.

North Hills

Incumbents Al Barkley, Arlene Bender, Sylvia Lynn and Edward Wielgus and newcomers Mark Kasperowicz and Jeff Meyer will appear on the November ballot.

Barkley, Bender, Meyer and Wielgus secured both the Democratic and Republican nominations, while Kasperowicz secured only the Democratic and Lynn only the Republican.

Budget concerns, improved facilities and student drug prevention were key issues for the candidates.

All the candidates were nominated for four-year terms with the exception of Bender who acquired the two-year seat on the Democratic ticket and Wielgus on the Republican.

Ralph Burchell, Santo DeFrancesco, John Mihm and Donald Mikec lost their bids.

Penn Hills

Four endorsed Republicans who said it was time to forget politics and get back to education took both party nominations in the race for five board seats.

They are incumbents Sara Werner and Kathryn Bolte, former board member Margie Krogh, and Richard Vuocolo.

Leonard Gallo won a seat on the Democratic ticket; Tim Rogers on the Republican side.

Peters

No results were available last night for the 10 candidates vying for five openings on Peters Township School Board. But so far, the campaign has been a bit nasty.

In March, the names of three candidates, Allison McClure, Jeffrey Yingling and incumbent Mark Buzzatto, were removed from the ballot after candidate John Culver, also an incumbent, accused the three of not filing required financial interest statements with the school district.

In addition, in April a complaint was filed against Culver, claiming that he had improperly advertised his campaign.

All candidates have cross-filed with both parties. Buzzatto has also filed on the independent ticket and will be listed on the ballot in November's election. McClure, Yingling and Buzzatto ran as write-in candidates.

Plum

With five seats open for the school board, the Democratic committee endorsed three. Two of those won their party's nomination last night. They are Tom McGough, an incumbent, and Lewis A. DeSabio II.

The other three nominated by the Democrats are Susan Caldwell, Jeff Matthews and Mary Louise Anderson.

Caldwell and Matthews also captured the Republican nomination, so they are virtually assured election in the fall.

The other Republican nominees are Dan Loi, Francis "Pete" Shuss and Paul Oligar.

Upper St. Clair

	This story was written by Post-Gazette education editor Jane Elizabeth based on the reporting of staff writers Mary Niederberger, Ann Belser, Judy Laurinatis and Maria Carpico; and freelance writers Lori Humphreys, Chris Crytzer and Sara Zablotsky.

Eight candidates in Upper St. Clair vied for five, four-year terms and two candidates for the two-year term. The contentious race which pitted incumbents against one another was dominated by one issue -- the appropriate role of the board. That issue fractured the usual monolithic endorsement of the Republican Party when longtime Chairman Jerry Fulmer resigned because he could not support the entire slate endorsed by the Republicans.

But a slate propelled by the Upper St. Clair Citizens' Alliance for Responsible Education took all four-year seats on both party tickets in yesterday's primary.

The GOP had endorsed incumbents Barbara L. Bolas, Angela Petersen, Mark Trombetta, William Sulkowski and newcomer Ronald Tozzie.

Fulmer joined the Citizens' Alliance, which endorsed Bolas, Petersen, Jeffrey Joyce and Glenn Groninger for the four-year term.

Those candidates won both party tickets last night, according to unofficial results. Incumbent Mark Trombetta also won on both tickets.

Russell Del Re won both tickets for the two-year term.

Running as independent candidates were Steve Zemba, who ran for the two-year term; and John Laboon, a candidate for the four-year term.