Weatherly Area School District school directors have to be more creative with district finances to make the buck go further, said two men Monday night who are running for school board in the Nov. 7 election.

And funds to keep the district’s buildings in better shape are a priority.

Ty Harris, a Republican running for a four-year term, and incumbent Tom Connors Jr., who is running with no party affiliation for a two-year term, were two of seven candidates who attended a candidates night Monday in the Weatherly Area Middle School cafeteria.

Seth Isenberg, co-publisher of the of the Journal-Herald newspaper of White Haven, the forum moderator, said both incumbent board President April Walters and board Vice President William Knepper could not attend because of health reasons.

Walters and Knepper are cross-filed on the Democratic and Republican ballots for a four-year sear, while Harris is joined on the Republican side of the ballot by former directors Bonnie Lee Barbush and Gerald Grega, while current director Christy Minor’s name will appear only on the Democratic ballot. Barbush is also running for the two-year seat.

“I’ve been on the board for four years, and we’ve had two tax increases,” said Connors. “I voted against both of them. I understand rising costs, but as school directors, we have to find other sources of further revenues.”

Harris, a home care specialist and former district employee, said he has “a lot of ideas to help students, teachers and taxpayers - who are left out of a lot of decisions. I put two kids through this district. There have been rumors I want to get rid of the athletic department. Those rumors are false, false, false. I will work with anyone. I want to put common sense, transparency and decency to work.”

Both candidates agreed district funds have to be used wiser.

“We are the smallest district in the (Carbon) county, yet we have one of the highest costs per student,” Connors said, “We have to look at every contract. Just because we had a contract with a company one year does not mean we have to stay with that company. Things change.”

Harris said, “We have to make smarter decisions. We can’t worry about one demographic. We have to worry about the whole school.”

Connors said he is running again to take care of some unfinished business.

“This office should be elected, not appointed,” Connors said of the narrow field of candidates for the five seats up for election this year. “I think this position should be picked by the people.”

Harris said, “There are a lot of good kids in this district who need someone with their best interests at heart. I have a lot of ideas that won’t cost the district a lot of money. We have to get out of this small-town mindset. We have a lot of people moving into this district. Just because something worked 10 years ago doesn’t mean it will work today.”

Building needs

Connors said the recent building plan did not go far enough to address the needs of the district’s physical plant.

“The HVAC system is 40 years old,” Connors said. “We had three proposals - less than $1 million, $1.5 million, and $3 million. We took the cheapest option, Now we are putting new parts into an old system, and it’s creating a lot of issues. The tennis courts are an eyesore, and we have drainage problems on the fields.”

Harris has issues with the remake of the gym.

“You want a gym that could host a state playoff game to bring money in, but this gym is too small,” Harris said.