The Tamaqua Area School Board president Larry A. Wittig and his team comfortably won four-year terms in Tuesday’s voting.

The board had five seats available, which turned out to be a lopsided victory for the Republicans.

Wittig and the board have been pushing for a legal policy to arm its staff for quite sometime, and it seems that supporters of the movement will remain in tact.

“I just think that the electorate saw the difference in the quality of candidates and they clearly chose the ones that would keep the school district on a path of success,” Wittig said. “The people that were on our team are very competent, thoughtful and sincere individuals. I think at the end of the day, after all of the negativism that was done, advertising-wise and social media … All of the things that we were accused of not being, including transparent; we’re going to do what we’ve always done. Put the interest of the district first.”

Newcomer Republicans Thomas Bartasavage and Trina Schellhammer were the leading vote getters respectively.

Bartasavage is currently employed by Fegley Oil Co. and a former employee of Lehigh Carbon Community College.

“Keeping the students and staff safe is obviously a very hot topic,” Bartasavage said in response to a Times News questionnaire last week. “I do support policy 705. I support researching all avenues when it comes to securing our buildings and protecting those inside. This also is another fiscal balancing act.

“I am running for Tamaqua area School board to help move the school in the right direction. I want the opportunity to help our youth graduate with a skill set that will help them achieve their goals and secure them a promising future.”

Schellhammer, a lifelong resident of West Penn, is the office manager of MAS-TEK Builders, Inc., and also owns her own small business.

“I’m so thankful to be one of the five selected by our community to serve on our school board in this election,” said Schellhammer. “I look forward to working with our district administration and board to maintain a quality education, safety and fiscal responsibility for our students, parents and teachers. I believe the voters chose a great group of people to serve our district together, and I’m humbled by the support this community has given to me and my family.”

Incumbents Daniel Schoener, Melanie Dillman and Wittig will be returning. Wittig received the least amount of winning votes with 2.095, but was still considerably ahead of Democrat Liz Pinkey.

Stacey Betz, Justin Startzel, Cheryl Tennant Humes and Karen Tharp, along with Betz, were the Democrat challengers who have been publicly against arming staff.

The vote totals for the winners were Thomas J. Bartasavage, 2,631; Trina M. Schellhammer, 2,618; Daniel E. Schoener, 2,563; Melanie Dillman, 2,434; and Wittig, 2,095. The five Democrat challengers and their totals were: Liz Pinkey, 1,501; Stacey Betz, 1,272; Justin D. Startzel, 1,254; Cheryl Tennant Humes, 1,244; and Karen Tharp, 1,192. There were 24 write-ins.