Published: November 04, 2009 11:20 pm      

School issue spurs Ligonier turnout

LIGONIER — The fact that Ligonier Valley School District is considering closing Laurel Valley High School and sending students to Ligonier High School apparently fueled a large Election Day turnout in which more than 5,000 people voted for write-in candidates.

It will be at least mid-November before all of those write-in votes are tallied and official results can be announced.

Residents in the Laurel Valley end of the district don’t want to lose their school.

School board member Kevin McLaughlin of Seward, who was on the ballot for another four-year term, believes the majority of the write-in votes came from residents in the Laurel Valley portion.

McLaughlin said he is opposed to closing Laurel Valley.

Voters had five candidates on the ballot to choose from for four, four-year seats.

The top vote-getter was John E. Maier, the incumbent board vice president, who received 2,779 votes.

The others on the ballot were Carolyn Shafer, who was second with 2,759 votes; Jim Cunkelman, 2,652; Martin Stahl, an incumbent, 2,282; and McLaughlin, 2,018.

The write-in candidates were Kevin Pahach and Todd Martin, both of whom lost in the primary election, Rayna Null and William Pritts.

McLaughlin said it’s possible that one of the write-in candidates could overtake one of the candidates on the ballot. But if all four equally split the write-in tally, that won’t happen, he said.

Another candidate, Mike Mannion, was on the ballot for a two-year term on the board. He received 2,972 votes. There were 1,371 write-in votes for that seat, so Mannion will serve on the board.

McLaughlin said the best option is to close one of two middle schools near Ligonier and operate elementary and high schools in each end of the district.

He said despite what the school board is saying, the district would not save hundreds of thousands of dollars by closing Laurel Valley. He said the district still owes $9 million for construction of the school and would lose $1.3 million in annual state subsidies for the school.

Maier said the turnout showed that voters expressed an interest in improving education and being fiscally responsible by having all students from grades six through 12 attend school in Ligonier.

Maier, who disagrees with McLaughlin’s logic behind the cost savings, said the district would save $1.34 million a year by closing Laurel Valley.

He said the district receives $102,000 annually in state subsidies for the Laurel Valley building and believes McLaughlin’s came up with the $1.3 million figure by taking the subsidy and multiplying it by the number of years remaining on the bond issue for the building.

Stahl said he believes the election went well despite attempts by opponents to get him to say how he would vote on the issue of consolidation and trying to make it appear as though he wasn’t a candidate.

Stahl said it’s time that people realize that this is the Ligonier Valley School District and not two districts – Ligonier and Laurel Valley.

Mary Lou Simon, a clerk in the Westmoreland County Election Bureau, said there were 5,098 write-in votes for the four-year terms in Ligonier Valley and that they will begin counting those votes along with many other write-in votes from throughout the county Friday. She said it will take a week or so to tally all the votes.