Five candidates earned places on the November ballots for four open seats on Pleasant Valley School Board.

Michael Galler led current school board President Donna Yozwiak by 660 votes among Republicans and bumped her from her spot on the list. Galler was the top candidate among Republicans with 1,262 votes.

Among Democrats, Galler didn’t make the top four. Yozwiak led Galler by 34 votes and secured the last spot for the ballot.

Diane Serfass came in first among Democrats, with 555 votes and third among Republicans, with 1,135 votes. Melanie Zipp came in second for both Democrats, with 405 votes, and Republicans, with 1,143 votes. Incumbent Laura Jecker came in third with 404 votes from Democrats and was in fourth place with 1,127 votes on Republican ballot.

Current school board members Len Peeters and Daniel Wunder chose not to run for re-election.

Galler, the favorite among Republicans, lives in Ross Township. He has been a resident in the school district for 26 years and has served on the district’s Comprehensive Planning Committee as a parent representative.

In addition to seeking fiscal responsible in the district, Galler said one of his goals is to ensure that “students have opportunities to be successful in the three career pathways: military, postsecondary education and entry into the business and industry sector.”

A veteran, Galler spent eight years in the welding trade before earning an associate degree from Northampton Community College; a bachelor’s degree in industrial education and a master’s in educational leadership both from Temple University.

The Democrats’ top pick, Diane Serfass, is from Kunkletown.

Serfass said her solution to the cyberschool expense issue is “to improve the quality of our in-house cyberschool. Renegotiate with the current vendor on costs, look for companies who can do the job cost effectively and produce a quality education or come up with a plan to use existing PV staff to run the in-house cyberschool with the same quality education that regular education students have.”

A top candidate for both parties, Melanie Zipp of Brodheadsville jumped into the race to contribute to the community. She has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in chemistry with 20 years of experience in the global pharmaceutical market and 15 years of experience managing large operational budgets while building and leading operational and quality teams.

“I am most interested in focusing on further improvements with respect to district performance in science and technology as well as helping to improve/maintain a respectable level of fiscal responsibility,” she said.

Incumbent Laura Jecker of Chestnuthill Township has been the school board’s treasurer for two years.

“As treasurer, I am responsible for questioning all areas of the budget, and I look for areas to be more efficient and not permit wish-list spending,” she said. “Before the school year, I suggested that PV offer a third option of full remote synchronous learning, allowing parent choices and not be compelled to go to outside cyberlearning.”

Donna Yozwiak of Saylorsburg has more that 45 years of total educational experience at Pleasant Valley as an educator and as the current president of the board of education.

She said her three main goals are “to keep taxes low by advocating that legislators approve fair funding formulas for cybercharter schools and all educational programs; to promote academic and career/technical excellence with increased requirements for graduation and to negotiate fair and responsible employee contracts.”