Numbers Tuesday night did not include final mail-in votes, but all votes cast in person were counted, as well as some early mail votes. Leading the way was John Wells with 3,908. Missy Sullivan followed closely behind with 3,905. Michele Luther was third with 3,878; incumbent Kenneth Snyder was fourth with 3,793; and Ying Li rounded out the victors with 3,774.

The four newcomers will replace Lonna Frye, Manny Nichols, Doug Stephens and Nicole Hartman when their terms expire in December. Their seats will switch over during the first meeting of the month.

It was a clean sweep for the Republicans in Hollidaysburg, as the three Democratic candidates could not catch up during the tally. Heather DeStefano finished with 2,556 votes; Cory Hartman had 2,501; and Jesse Blank accrued 2,138 votes.

Wells said he felt the GOP victory was a “very significant mandate” for the newly victorious board members to live up to the voters’ expectations.

Luther

“I do not take it as a power play, but rather a significant responsibility to meet expectations and perform in the best interests of students, parents and taxpayers,” Wells said.

Sullivan was grateful for everyone in the community who put signs out in front of their homes and businesses in support of her campaign, saying she had a lot of help from many people.

“I don’t have a big family within the area, so it was made possible by the community,” Sullivan said. “I’m thankful for each individual voter.”

Sullivan said she is prioritizing parental rights as she will begin to work with other members of the school board.

“I’m excited to work with the other school board members, and I think we can get a lot done for the district,” Sullivan said.

Snyder

Luther echoed many of Sullivan’s thoughts, saying she was “humbled by all the support” she received from the community.

“There’s no denying that the Hollidaysburg community has spoken with its votes,” Luther said.

She said among her top priorities are addressing the bullying problems within the district, as well as balancing the budget and pushing for more vocational education.

Luther said it’s hard on most families within the district to bear the burden of a budget in a deficit when taxes need to be raised. But the top issue she is concerned about addressing is bullying.

“People miss that bullying is just a small ripple in the pond, because there’s difficulty learning in class when a child is being bullied,” Luther said. “It’s hindering their education and their desire to go to school.”

Sullivan

She said bullying leads to students withdrawing and enrolling in cyber school, which leads to more costs on the district’s books. She said she wants to make the district an enjoyable and fruitful environment for every student, saying she finds “true joy” in helping others.

“It takes a village, and I’m truly humbled by the village I live in,” Luther said.

Li said she is also interested in addressing the budget and bullying problems, but she wants to focus on academic standards in the district. She said it’s important that the district isn’t passing students in classes in which they don’t actually understand the material they are studying. She said if they need to repeat the class or the grade to make sure they’re actually learning, that’s better than them falling more and more behind as they advance.

Li said she wants to study curriculum adopted by other nearby districts to compare their performance with that of Hollidaysburg to see if there are any changes that could be made to have greater results for HASD students.

“I need to work with the other board members to work on these issues, but there are a lot of things we need to do,” Li said. “It won’t be a quick fix, but we need to work on things together.”

Wells

Snyder did not respond to a phone call from the Mirror Tuesday evening.

Mirror Staff Writer Nate Powles is at 814-946-7466.