Win4Bellefonte announces candidates for 2023 school board elections
A community organization that formed in response to Bellefonte’s Red Raider name controversy announced Tuesday its five candidates for this year’s school board election.
Five seats are up for election this year, including seats currently held by Marie Perini, Nate Campbell, Donna Smith, Julie Fitzgerald and Kimberly Weaver.
Win4Bellefonte started in 2021 after the previous board decision to retire Native American imagery and the Red Raider’s moniker. The community group swept in 2021, with Jack Bechdel, Andrea Royer, Jon Guizar and Jeff Steiner winning the four open seats. Steiner and Guizar were incumbents, with Bechdel and Royer as first-time board members.
The majority of the board voted in January 2022 to rescind the motions made by the previous board related to the Red Raider name and imagery.
Win4Bellefonte is also committed to the district’s elementary school needs, addressing learning gaps and ensuring the availability of advanced technology for all students, according to the group’s website.
Here are the five candidates on the Win4Bellefonte ticket this year:
- Kimberly Weaver — Current board member, Bellefonte graduate and kindergarten teacher for a neighboring district.
- Jenn Barnhart — A Bellefonte parent involved in the booster club and parent teacher organization.
- Darrell Sharp — A Penn State graduate and father of three children at Marion Walker Elementary.
- Timothy Kessling — Bellefonte graduate and Glenn O. Hawbaker employee who helped to build the new Weis Market and Penn State’s Pegula Ice Hockey Arena.
- Patrick Buck — A Bellefonte parent and mechanical engineer running on a platform of “embracing tradition and history.”
All the candidates have students in the district and many are longtime Bellefonte residents.
“We are very pleased with this group of candidates,” Kathy Evey, chair of Win4Bellefonte, said in a press release. “They are capable, dedicated, and determined.”
Perini, Campbell, Smith and Fitzgerald have not publicly announced whether they’ll run for reelection.