Two Members Depart & New Blood Steps Up to Fill the Gaps in Keystone School Board

Leon Aristeguieta

Leon Aristeguieta

Published November 18, 2021 5:50 am
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KNOX BOROUGH, Pa. (EYT) — Two members of the Keystone School Board sat through their last meeting after losing re-election during a controversial write-in campaign that has exposed deep divisions in the district.

(Pictured above: Trisha Dixon addresses the Keystone School Board.)

Following the November 2 General Election, results show Trisha Dixon lost one of the two Keystone Region II (Elk/Ashland/Shippenville) seats garnering 359 votes to current board president John Slagle’s 628 votes and write-in Buck Weaver’s 544 votes.

Randy Burr, incumbent for Region II (Licking/Beaver/Callensburg), lost to write-in Jason Say, 370 to 306 votes.

During the board’s combined work session and business meeting on Monday, November 15, Dixon, Burr, Say, and Weaver all presented public comments offering their viewpoints on the election.

Dixon thanked the board and administrators, and said she is praying “for strength and the courage to make the difficult choices to do what is best for our district.”

“My hope is we can find common ground to stand on without plain tug of war. Intentions matter, our kids matter, our community matters, and where we go from here matters.”

Dixon argued the write-in campaign against her, Burr, and Stacey Thompson, who won her race for Keystone Region I (Knox/Salem), had no substance.

“I’ve heard a great deal of intentions from our write-in candidates but no real plans. What we have evidence of is they will work against the state, against Harrisburg, and against the district. None of this is for the kids,” she said.

Calling the election’s outcome a “lose-lose situation” for the district, Dixon stated the write-in campaign had three diverging visions that would require different actions.

“Clarity is important and our heads were spinning when this social media group went from their primary point being no masks and no vaccines to being about local control,” she said. “Those are three different points, three different goals. What were the plans? What are the measurable outcomes to indicate success in these areas?”

She also called for the board, including its new members, to listen to all the voices of Keystone School District’s 7,537 residents, and exhorted the local community to unite.

“To the school community, adopt a common vision: our school, our community,” said Dixon.

Finally, Dixon asked for the board to remember their responsibility when it came to decision-making, stating they make decisions for more than just individuals or one family.

“Understand if you are making a decision for your household, that’s one thing, but the weight of making a decision for almost 3,000, that’s tough. Toxic individualism has no place on public school boards,” she said.

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(Pictured above: Randy Burr)

Burr made a shorter statement at the meeting, thanking the administration and the board, then wishing the new members luck.

“Buck and Jason, I commend you on both your wins, and I wish you the very best of luck,” he said.

After they spoke, board president John Slagle presented Dixon and Burr with Pennsylvania School Board Association service awards for their eight years of service on the board.

New Members

Say and Weaver both argued the school board needed to change course.

“Going forward, I have a simple message, this board must change direction,” said Say. “For every education policy issue or proposal, board members must ask themselves, ‘Does the idea empower parents, or further the power of government and special interests dedicated on imposing mandates and ideology?’”

Say stated his and Weaver’s victory shows the majority of Keystone voters support their anti-mandate stance.

“I think it was pretty clear what the message was November 2, and I hope the school board heard it loud and clear. We saw the final results with the write-ins, and we saw we definitely got two seats, which is pretty amazing for only campaigning three weeks,” he said.

The arguments the board has used as to why they had to enact the mandate, Say remarked, were not popular among voters.

“Nobody’s buying it that our hands are tied when they’re doing it in other schools,” he said. “Nobody is buying anymore ‘go to Harrisburg, go anywhere else.’ We can do it right here.”

However, the recent decision by the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court to overturn the masking order, and Gov. Tom Wolf’s announcement the order will be lifted on January 17 of next year, Say acknowledged the masking issue is likely to die out soon.

He said he wants to focus on improving technology usage at Keystone, citing his experience through his digital media company, Sportsman Portal.

“I bring a lot of experience in technology. I really want to look at the technology, what we’re doing at the school, and what we can do better,” he told exploreClarion.com after the meeting.

Additionally, Say said he wants more emphasis on life skills in the educational curriculum.

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(Pictured above: Jason Say)

Weaver stated the November 2 election was the awakening of a “sleeping giant.”

“They have brought the true heart and soul of America back into the surface,” he said.

Weaver had many of the same points as Say, saying that “When people say change starts in Harrisburg, they couldn’t be more wrong. Change starts with you.”

He also said the “fight” he is engaged in is “far from over.”

“Our rights will constantly be infringed upon until we say ‘no more,'” said Weaver. “You can see all the more that’s happened right now, so you better hold the line.”

Responding to a query from exploreClarion.com on what he wants to accomplish on the school board, Weaver said he wants to continue Keystone’s fiscal discipline and guard the educational curriculum from the government.

“I’m just not a big fan of our government right now,” he said. “So, one of my main goals is I’m not scared to put myself between our government and our kids because it’s my core values and our community’s cores values that matter to our kids. That’s what we need to be instilling in them.”

Getting acquainted with how the board works and the issues facing Keystone will be a challenge for Weaver, although he seemed confident he could take it on.

“That’s the case with anything in life when you’re first starting out,” he said. “I bought a business 15 years ago, and there’s a lot to learn, but it’s nothing hard work won’t replace.”

weaber(Pictured above: Buck Weaver)

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