Seven seeking appointment to Nanticoke Area School Board

NANTICOKE – Seven people, including two candidates from the May primaries, are vying for an open seat on the Greater Nanticoke Area School Board after a board member resigned last month.

Betsy Cheshinski, Marilyn Collacchi, Dave Hornlein Jr., Karen Metta, Sandy Sadowski, James Samselski and Ryan Verazin all submitted letters of intent to fill former board member Patti Bieski’s seat, which runs through December 2011.

Board President Bob Raineri confirmed all seven applicants submitted letters of intent, and he expected the school board to vote on selecting a new board member during tonight’s meeting.

One candidate served on the board previously. Two other candidates sought seats earlier this year, and there is also a community advocate looking for his first elected seat.

Metta, a retired teacher and Sadowski, a community watchdog, ran unsuccessfully in the May primaries.

Metta, 61, retired in 2005 after 34 years in the district, where she worked primarily as an art teacher. She said her experience and familiarity with the district will help her serve the residents, as she feels the board is moving in the right direction.

She praised the current board for keeping the district financially sound, making process on course selections, technology offerings.

“It’s running well and I would like to help keep it running that way,” said Metta, whose husband, Jon, is a city council member and previously worked for the district as a grants coordinator. They have two children who have graduated from Greater Nanticoke Area already and their youngest child is a sophomore.

“I think all the children in Nanticoke should get an education just like my grandchildren are getting (in Maryland),” Sadowski said. “Nanticoke has a lot of problems and is not willing to face up to it,” she said.

Sadowski, 66, believes Metta should get the seat because she ran and she was the next highest vote getter not to get elected.

Hornlein, 41, thinks his previous experience as a school board member from 2004-07 will benefit him if he is selected to serve again. He said he enjoyed serving on the board and would like to help lead the district again.

“As a board member you can’t just have one goal. You need to take in everything that is going on around you and adjust with the times,” said Hornlein, who also serves on the board of directors for the New Horizons Development Foundation, an affiliate of the Nanticoke Housing Authority.

Samselski, a community advocate, routinely attends city council and school board meetings.

All of Samselski’s children have graduated, but he remains an active community advocate who works with children as vice-president of the city’s recreation board.

“I thought I could help out being that I am around the kids. I know their concerns, needs and abilities and how to play on things like that. When you know what is going on in town, it is easier to help out,” said Samselski, 47.

Verazin, 28, considered running for a seat on the board during the May primaries, but then changed his plans after his wife became pregnant.

Verazin works in the pharmaceutical industry in vaccine development and wants to use this background to help increase offerings in the district’s biological and health science classes.

“I would like to jump on their team and get my feet wet and possibly look into increasing the health sciences area,” he said.

Collacchi’s love of children prompted her to seek a seat on the board, as she is a Sunday school teacher at Holy Trinity in Nanticoke.

Collacchi, 61, knows the district is on the right track and says if selected she wants to help fellow board members continue offering the gifted programs, special SAT and PSSA tutoring sessions and special programs to help special needs children.

“I just felt like being part of the team for school directors to continue helping them. I was interested in working with the children and for the taxpayers to make sure the taxes don’t go sky high,” said Collacchi, who ran against Al Wytoshek for city treasurer many years ago. She lost that election.

Collacchi, who is the sister of Jean Ditzler, a member and acting executive director of the Nanticoke Housing Authority, also teaches Sunday school at Holy Trinity Church.

Cheshinski, 52, works for the city of Nanticoke and has served as city clerk for the council for the last year. She said she’s learned a lot as city clerk and now wants to have a voice to communicate with district parents.

“I just feel the school is the children’s second home. I think a lot of that is lost that we even have to teach parents to get more active in their child’s education,” Cheshinski said.