Published: November 04, 2009 01:25 am      

Sadosky, Cessna win seats on board

EBENSBURG — Rose Marie Sadosky, a single mother and political newcomer, scored a victory over an incumbent in her quest for a seat on the Central Cambria school board.

Winning with her, in second place, was Don Cessna, a popular Ebensburg council member. Central to Sadosky’s campaign was opposition to building a new middle school building.

In defeating Eric Rummel, a board member and bank executive who lost the May primary but waged a write-in campaign, Sadosky had the backing of fiscal conservative Ed Smith of Jackson Township and his group “Save Our Homes,” which also opposes a new school and high taxes.

She won with well-known political moderate Cessna, a longtime Ebensburg council member and popular public figure.

Sadosky won the Ebensburg district in the primary that knocked out school board incumbents Joseph Stephan, Ron Mastrine and Rummel, who conducted a write-in campaign.

In Jackson Township, Marcia Yesenosky Shaheen defeated last-minute write-in candidate Carol Porada.

In Cambria Township, Dennis Simmers was unopposed.

The Ebensburg district school board race was mainly polite, but with strong feelings.

Rummel equated building a new middle school with doing the right thing for students.

Sadosky argued that she was for a quality education, but also was sensitive to the problems many lower-income families were having, even to pay medical costs and utilities.

She has said that she wants to renovate the existing middle school in the heart of Ebensburg at a cost of $3 million to $5 million, rather than closing it and spending $10 million for a new structure.

The makeup of the new school board is seen as a challenge to the new schools superintendent, Vincent DiLeo. He favors constructing a new middle school on the campus in Cambria Township.

During his campaign, Cessna emphasized that he had an open mind, and wanted to inspect the existing middle school before making a decision.