Scranton School District elections (2015)
|
← 2013
|
 |
Method of election Elections What was at stake? Key deadlines Additional elections External links |
Scranton School District Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania ballot measures Local ballot measures, Pennsylvania |
 |
Five seats on the Scranton School District Board of Directors were up for general election on November 3, 2015.
Incumbents Paul Duffy (D/R) and Carol Owens Oleski (D/R) won re-election, while Democratic challengers Bob Lesh and James Timlin joined the board. Cross-filed candidate Tom Schuster also won a seat on the board. They defeated Republican candidates Larry Wynne and Marcel Lisi in the general election. No independent candidates filed to run in the general election.[1]
Joseph Matyjevich and Adam Swieciaszek were defeated in the primary election and, therefore, did not proceed to the general election. Greg Popil withdrew from the race after the primary election. The Republican Party used a substitute nomination certificate to nominate Lisi in the place of Popil.[2]
Scranton teachers went on strike after working under an expired contract for a month. The strike began on September 25, 2015, and ended on October 13, 2015.[3]
About the district
- See also: Scranton School District, Pennsylvania
The Scranton School District is located in northeastern Pennsylvania in Lackawanna County. The city of Scranton is the county seat. According to the United States Census Bureau, Lackawanna County was home to 212,719 residents in 2014.[4] In the 2012-2013 school year, the Scranton School District was the 18th-largest school district in Pennsylvania and served 9,881 students.[5]
Demographics
Lackawanna County underperformed compared to the rest of Pennsylvania in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found 25.7 percent of county residents over age 25 with a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 27.5 percent of state residents. The county's median income was $46,044, compared to the rest of the state at $52,548. The county had a poverty rate of 13.6 percent, while the state's poverty rate was 13.3 percent.[4]
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Voter and candidate information
The Scranton Board of Directors consists of nine members who are elected at large to four-year terms. The board is a partisan board that utilizes cross-filing in elections. There was a primary election on May 19, 2015, and the general election was held November 3, 2015. Five seats were are up for election.[1]
School board candidates had to file for this election with the Lackawanna County Department of Elections by March 10, 2015. Those wishing to run as an independent candidate had until August 3, 2015, to file. To vote in the primary election, residents had to register by April 20, 2015, and to vote in the general election, residents had to register by October 5, 2015.[7]
Elections
2015
Candidates
General election candidates
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Candidates defeated in primary election
|
|
|
Cross-filed in Republican and Democratic primaries | |
Withdrawn candidate
|
|
|
Election results
| Scranton School District, At-Large, General Election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic/Republican |  Paul Duffy Incumbent |
18.0% | 6,821 | |
| Democratic/Republican | Tom Schuster |
16.3% | 6,182 | |
| Democratic/Republican | Carol Owens Oleski Incumbent |
16.2% | 6,158 | |
| Democratic | James Timlin |
15.5% | 5,873 | |
| Democratic | Bob Lesh |
13.1% | 4,964 | |
| Republican | Larry Wynne | 7.9% | 3,004 | |
| Republican | Marcel Lisi | 6.5% | 2,451 | |
| Write-in votes | 6.7% | 2,546 | ||
| Total Votes | 37,999 | |||
| Source: Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, "Summary Report, Certified Results," accessed December 21, 2015 | ||||
| Scranton School District, At-Large Democratic Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Paul Duffy Incumbent |
15.9% | 4,600 | |
| Democratic | Carol Owens Oleski Incumbent |
14.5% | 4,187 | |
| Democratic | James Timlin |
13.2% | 3,811 | |
| Democratic | Tom Schuster |
12.4% | 3,600 | |
| Democratic | Bob Lesh |
12.1% | 3,512 | |
| Democratic | Larry Wynne | 9.8% | 2,832 | |
| Democratic | Joseph Matyjevich | 9.6% | 2,766 | |
| Democratic | Greg Popil | 9.1% | 2,643 | |
| Democratic | Adam Swieciaszek | 3% | 883 | |
| Democratic | Write-in votes | 0.4% | 117 | |
| Total Votes | 28,951 | |||
| Source: Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, "Certified Results," accessed July 7, 2015 | ||||
| Scranton School District, At-Large Republican Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Tom Schuster |
18.9% | 847 | |
| Republican | Paul Duffy Incumbent |
18.5% | 833 | |
| Republican | Carol Owens Oleski Incumbent |
18.2% | 817 | |
| Republican | Greg Popil |
15.5% | 697 | |
| Republican | Larry Wynne |
14.2% | 636 | |
| Republican | Adam Swieciaszek | 8.8% | 397 | |
| Republican | Write-in votes | 5.9% | 264 | |
| Total Votes | 4,491 | |||
| Source: Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, "Certified Results," accessed July 7, 2015 | ||||
Endorsements
Lesh, Duffy, Oleski, Wynne, and Matyjevich received official endorsements from the Scranton City Democratic Committee.[8]
Campaign finance
The Lackawanna County Department of Elections does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at elections@ballotpedia.org.
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
2015
Two incumbents faced seven challengers in the Scranton School District primary election on May 19, 2015. Two challengers failed to advance to the general election for five seats. In addition to the incumbents, two of the challengers advancing to the general were former board members. One of them, however, withdrew following his Republican primary success, necessitating a replacement nomination from his party.
Teachers in the district went on strike on September 28, 2015, after negotiations over their expired contract failed. The district came to an agreement with the teachers union that ended the strike on October 13, 2015.[3]
Issues in the election
Popil drops out of race
Greg Popil dropped out of the running following his Republican primary win. Popil had cross-filed for the primary election on May 19, 2015, where he placed eighth with the Democrats and fourth with the Republicans. The registered Democrat had previously served on the board from 1986 to 1991. As the general election neared, Popil decided to drop out of the race saying, "I’m running on my own, and I don’t have $20,000 to spend."[9]
Popil withdrew from the race after August 10, 2015, which was the withdrawal deadline for the general election. In order to be removed from the ballot, Popil had to seek a court order from Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael J. Barrasse, which Barrasse granted on August 26, 2015.
The Lackawanna County Republican Party exercised its option to replace Popil by nominating Marcel Lisi as a Republican candidate on the general election ballot. Lisi previously ran for mayor of Scranton in 2013 and state representative in 2014. His mayoral run ended in the primaries. He won the Republican nomination for the 113th District of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, but lost in the general election to the Democratic incumbent.[10][11]
Issues in the district
Teachers strike after contract negotiations fail
Over 900 teachers and education professionals in the Scranton School District officially went on strike on September 25, 2015, after multiple failed negotiations between the school board and the Scranton Federation of Teachers. Salary increases and health benefits were the most contentious points of the negotiations.[3]
The district had presented a plan that added more instructional time to the school day. The plan also included an increase in salary level for all teachers starting in January with no retroactive payment for current teachers. The salary level increase would make up for the higher deductibles in the provided healthcare plans.[12]
Teachers protested in front of the school administration building on October 5, 2015. They carried in boxes of signed petitions calling for a fair contract for Scranton teachers. They also chanted, "What's fair for one is fair for all, 2.5 percent for all." This was in reference to the contract of the district superintendent, Dr. Alexis Kirijan, which stipulates that she receive automatic 2.5 percent annual raises. Kirijan started her job as superintendent in July 2015. She commented on the strike during the protests outside of her office.[3]
| “ | Any decisions that are being made per the teachers contract, those decisions are not being made solely by me. I work for the board of education. We are trying to do the right things for the right reasons. Our budget can only stretch so far. We stretched the budget beyond what we could possibly comfortably do, to get teachers a contract that could be satisfactory to them, but it’s not. The school district is broke. You really can’t give what you don’t have. I’m here to straighten out the financial situation in the district, not make it worse.[13] | ” |
| —Dr. Alexis Kirijan, Scranton School District Superintendent, [3] | ||
The strike lasted two weeks and ended on October 13, 2015. The district agreed to give the teachers and paraprofessionals salary increases based on years of service starting in January. They also will receive retroactive payment for the time they worked under an expired contract. The union agreed to the higher healthcare deductibles and a start date for the salary increases of January 1, 2016.[14][15]
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Scranton School District election in 2015:[7]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| March 10, 2015 | Partisan candidate filing deadline |
| March 11, 2015 - August 3, 2015 |
Independent candidate filing period |
| March 25, 2015 | Withdrawal deadline for primary election |
| April 20, 2015 | Voter registration deadline for primary election |
| May 8, 2015 | Pre-primary election campaign finance deadline |
| May 12, 2015 | Last day to file for absentee ballot for primary election |
| May 15, 2015 | Absentee ballot deadline for primary election |
| May 19, 2015 | Primary election day |
| June 18, 2015 | Post-primary election campaign finance deadline |
| August 10, 2015 | Withdrawal deadline for general election |
| October 5, 2015 | Voter registration deadline for general election |
| October 23, 2015 | Pre-general election campaign finance deadline for general election |
| October 27, 2015 | Voter registration deadline for general election |
| October 30, 2015 | Absentee ballot deadline for general election |
| November 3, 2015 | General Election Day |
| December 3, 2015 | Post-general election campaign finance deadline for general election |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Pennsylvania elections, 2015
This election shared the ballot with primary and general elections for county offices such as commissioner, controller, clerk of judicial records, coroner and treasurer. Township and city offices on the ballot included supervisor, auditor, council member and controller. There is also a magisterial district judge position on the ballot.[1]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Scranton School District' Pennsylvania. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Scranton School District | Pennsylvania | School Boards |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "{". |
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, "List of Candidates, Municipal Election, November 3, 2015," accessed September 22, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Tribune, "Lisi best-known name on new candidates list," September 11, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 The Times-Tribune, "Hundreds rally as national union president calls for respect, dignity for Scranton teachers," October 5, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: Lackawanna County," accessed October 15, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Scranton School District," accessed March 16, 2015
- ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "Voter Registration Statistics," accessed October 5, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Pennsylvania Department of State, "2015 Election Calendar," accessed March 11, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Scranton City Democratic Committee," April 28, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Tribune, "Popil withdraws as Republican Scranton School Board nominee," September 9, 2015
- ↑ The Time-Tribune, "Lisi best-known name on new candidates list," September 12, 2015
- ↑ The Times-Tribune, "First Scranton mayor candidate emerges," January 23, 2013
- ↑ The Citizens Voice, "As Scranton strike continues, paraprofessionals ask for respect," October 5, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ WNEP 16, "Scranton Teachers, Board Clash During Meeting," October 5, 2015
- ↑ Education Week, "Scranton Teacher Strike Ends After Two Weeks of Stalemate," October 13, 2015
| 2015 Scranton School District Elections | |
| Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania | |
| Election date: | Primary election: May 19, 2015 General election: November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent Paul Duffy (D/R) • Incumbent, Carol Owens Oleski (D/R) • Bob Lesh (D) • Marcel Lisi (R) • Joseph Matyjevich (D) • Greg Popil (D/R) • Tom Schuster (D/R) • Adam Swieciaszek (D/R) • James Timlin (D) • Larry Wynne (D/R) |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
