Quaker Valley Board Members Ward Off Challenges, Retain Their Positions

incumbents fended off separate challenges from Republican challengers Leland “Peter” Floyd and Marianne Wagner to capture the top slots in the Democratic and Republican primaries for school board Tuesday, according to unofficial results.

Incumbents David Pusateri and Robert Riker received the top Democratic and Republican votes over Floyd in Region 2, while incumbents Mark Rodgers and current Board President Jack Norris received more votes than Wagner in Region 3.

Both incumbents received 39 percent of the Republican vote while Rodgers received 37 percent and Norris received 34 percent of the Democratic vote.

Incumbent Gianni Floro ran unopposed in Region 1, receiving 257 votes for the Democratic nomination. Floro also waged a write-in campaign on the Republican ticket, but 30 write-in votes must be counted to determine if anyone will appear on the GOP ballot in the fall.

One other resident, former school Director Florence Iwler, also waged a Republican write-in campaign against Floro and needs only 10 votes to appear on the November ballot.

Despite that challenge, Floro said he was happy with the nomination and said he plans to continue supporting fiscal discipline and rigorous academics.

“There were people with a certain agenda that weren’t permitted by the public to advance the agenda,” Floro said.

“Everything went well,” Norris said. “We have five board members who did a great job, who are returning.”

Floyd admitted he faced an uphill battle against the incumbents, saying he isn’t part of “the clique” that he believes controls the school district. He said he blanketed Sewickley over the weekend, and believes he passed out campaign material to more than 1,500 people in the hope that voters who share his views would vote for him. But with only about a 10 percent turnout from registered voters, he said the results “pretty much confirmed” his general feelings.

“People don’t vote, so a $40 million school budget is being controlled by 10 percent of the tax payers,” Floyd said.

Wagner and Rodgers could not be reached Tuesday night for comment. 

Pusateri received the most votes in Region 2, with 45 percent of the Democratic votes and 42 percent of Republican votes. He thanked the citizens who came out to vote for him.

“I’m really pleased that we won on both the Democratic and Republican tickets and we can get on with the business of the district,” Pusateri said. “There are a lot of important projects on our plates right now.”

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Democrat

Quaker Valley School Board, Region I
One four-year term

Name of Candidate

Party

Total

Winner

Gianni Floro

D

259

1

Quaker Valley School Board
Region II, Two four-year terms

Name of Candidate

Party

Total

Winner

Robert Riker

D

124

2

David Pusateri

D

166

1

Leland Floyd

D

71

3

Quaker Valley School Board
Region III, Two four-year terms

Name of Candidate

Party

Total

Winner

Jack Norris

D

164

2

Mark Rodgers

D

178

1

Marianne Wagner

D

134

3

Republican

Quaker Valley School Board
Region II, Two four-year terms

Name of Candidate

Party

Total

Winner

Robert Riker

R

153

2

David Pusateri

R

201

1

Leland Floyd

R

122

3

Quaker Valley School Board
Region III, Two four-year terms

Name of Candidate

Party

Total

Winner

Jack Norris

R

376

2

Mark Rodgers

R

376

1

Marianne Wagner

R

209

3