The Pleasant Valley School Board candidates met at the Western Pocono Community Library to tell people why they are running for the board. The event was moderated by Eldred Township Chairwoman Mary Anne Clausen and organized by Teresa Greggo.

Five seats are open for the Pleasant Valley school board. Four of the open spots are for full four-year terms. One of the seats is a two-year term to fulfill the term left open by H. Charles Hoffman, who passed away shortly after his re-election to the board.Nine candidates are on the ballot, with four incumbent directors running for re-election.Linda Micklos, Len Peeters, Robert Serfass and Dan Wunder are all at the end of their four-year terms. Doug Wisser was appointed by the board to fill Hoffman's seat. When a person is appointed to fulfill the unfinished term of an elected official, their tenure only lasts until the next election cycle.Also running are past board member Thomas Murphy; retired Pleasant Valley school guidance counselor, Donna Yozwiak; resident and PTO president, Laura Jecker; Pleasant Valley graduate and current teacher (outside the district) Joel Smith.There were close to 100 people in attendance, including newly hired Superintendent David Piperato and school directors who are not up for re-election.Graduation projectThe first question from the floor dealt with the graduation project and whether or not those running agreed that community service was an important element of the project.All of the candidates agreed that community service is important.Yozwiak said that she would advocate for keeping the graduation project as a requirement. Wunder agreed and added that he believes that the community service has to be "meaningful."Jecker, who pointed out that two of her children follow an Individualized Education Plan or IEP, agreed with keeping the graduation project, but added that it needs to be modified for students with special learning needs.Smith pointed out that getting out into the community and seeing what is needed is a lesson itself and pointed out that he has seen Pleasant Valley students working at the West End Food Pantry in Eldred Township. Micklos also referred to community service as a "learning experience on its own."Student population declineAnother question related to the steady decline in student population in recent years.Peeters said that the projection is that the district will level out at 300 students per grade level and that the hardest part of the job will be to keep high quality staff while keeping taxes from going up.Peeters, Micklos and Murphy said the current board has worked to keep costs down by allowing employees to decrease through attrition and by giving incentives to older employees to retire. None of the candidates were in favor of furloughing employees unless it was an absolute necessity.Smith and Jecker both talked about working with townships to attract new businesses to increase the tax base.NepotismAll of the candidates said that they were against nepotism.Wisser said he is against any form of nepotism. Smith believes in following the clear-cut guidelines set out by any hiring policy in place and not bending those policies to fit a situation for a friend or relative.Murphy, Micklos and Serfass agreed that it would be wrong, but said it is important to hire the most qualified applicant for the position. Micklos said if she has any involvement with the person being considered she would and has excused herself from the matter.Micklos said families want to remain close to other family members and at some point they may end up working in the same place.Yozwiak said that she is running for the board because of the number of calls she has received from people who she says are concerned with nepotism and the current board. She encouraged the voters to attend board meetings and to feel free to ask the directors about who they are hiring.Peeters added that he always tries to find out who is being hired and who they might know.Wunder said board members need to be able to trust one another and to support each other as well. He said what is discussed in executive sessions needs to stay in executive session.Board attendanceAnother attendee asked each of those on the panel how many board meetings they have missed in the past year.The incumbents have all missed at least one meeting. Wunder missed the last meeting, but was attending a ceremony on behalf of the board. Micklos, Serfass and Peeters all missed one or two meetings because of vacations, and Wisser said he missed one as well. All of the other candidates with the exception of Murphy have attended meetings fairly regularly.Senior tax rebateThe panel was asked about increasing the tax rebate for senior citizens in the district. All of the candidates were for at least looking into the possibility of increasing the rebates, but making sure that the money doesn't come at the expense of other taxpayers.Micklos said there are a lot of mandated costs and only 11 to 12 percent of the budget is for discretionary spending.Wunder said he believes that the district is in strong enough fiscal shape to look into this right away.The primary election is Tuesday, May 16.