In the Altoona Area School Board primary, incumbent school board President John Donley missed the Republican nomination by 68 votes as voters passed over him for four other candidates to put on the November ballot.

But Donley won a spot on the Democratic ballot by 52 votes over Ed Kreuz.

Advancing on the Republican ballot are Kelly Irwin Adams with 2,700 votes, Edward Kreuz Jr. with 2,525, David E. Francis with 2,408 and Rick Hoover and 1,603 won spots on the Republican ballot. Also on the Republican ballot were Kevin Stoltz 1,549, John Donley 1,535, Robin Reese 1,388, David Horell 1,385 and Kelly Williams 1,302.

The Democratic nominees will be Irwin Adams with 1,582, Reese with 1,226, Francis 1,216, and Donley 1,137. Also on the Democratic ballot were, Kreuz 1,085, Kate Reed 843, Horell 825, and Williams 804.

“I definitely want to thank everyone that supported me,” Williams said.

“It’s nice to see there are other people getting involved with things going on in the district, regardless of what their opinions are. It’s nice people are taking notice.”

Adams said she is excited for November.

“I’m super excited and ready to get to work. I want to thank everybody who voted for me. I think we had a tough competition. I am appreciative with everyone getting out there to vote today,” Adams said. “It helped me that I am a former teacher. Now, I am a parent. I think that played an important role in getting elected. And obviously, the new high school is the biggest issue.

“Honestly, I am firm on the fact that I need to be better educated on the options before I make a decision. I don’t necessarly think we need an $88 million school.”

Donley was thankful for his supporters and said he’s looking forward to November.

“I appreciate all the help. School board campaigning takes a lot of help from a lot of people,” Donley said. “There are a lot of issues in the school district and lots of differences of opinions.

“I’m glad so many people are getting involved and running for school board. I just hope at the end of the day, we do what’s right for our students.”

Francis said campaigning put him in touch with what people thought of the issues.

“Most the people we talked to were against the school,” he said.

“In all honesty, I’m not against a building project, but not for $88 million.”

Reese was sunburned as she met voters at the polls on Tuesday, she said but it paid off.

“It was awesome. We had so many people out there campaigning on my behalf. And it’s still so early. When I was campaigning, people wanted to talk about educational philosophy, bullying and students with special needs.”

She said the decision on a building project may already be made before the new board is in place.

“The new board may not have the ability to vote on the builidng project. Focus on that issue hurt getting out other key issues that are going on in the district that need a spotlight.”

Mirror Staff Writer Russ O’Reilly is at 946-7435.