14-05-2025
Thursday event offers opportunity to meet Scranton School Board candidates
Voters will have a chance Thursday to meet the candidates for Scranton School Board before casting their ballots in Tuesday's municipal primary election.
The Greater Scranton Martin Luther King Commission is sponsoring Thursday's meet-the-candidates event, which will run from 6-8 p.m. in the fifth-floor Rose Room of the University of Scranton's Brennan Hall. It will feature a Q&A session where members of the MLK Commission will ask questions of the candidates and give audience members an opportunity to ask additional questions, organizers said in an email.
Heather Rhodes, Greater Scranton MLK Commission vice president, said the community has approached the commission over the years seeking information about candidates for the Scranton School Board.
'As a non-partisan group, we collectively decided to give the people the opportunity to learn who the candidates are and what they intend to do for our students if they are elected by hosting a 'Meet the Candidates' event at the University of Scranton,' Rhodes said in a statement. 'We are providing a platform where parents and members of the community may have the opportunity to submit questions or share personal anecdotes for the candidates to consider. This fosters the principle that voters will be equipped with vital information to make informed decisions on May 20th.'
A total of six primary candidates for Scranton school director are vying to advance to November's municipal election, when four seats on the nine-member school board are up for grabs. They include incumbent school Director Danielle Chesek, recently appointed Director Jenna Strzelecki, former Director Carol J. Cleary and fellow candidates Julien M. Wells, John Howe and Joe Brazil.
Chesek, Strzelecki, Wells, Howe and Brazil are all cross-filed, meaning they'll appear on both Democratic and Republican primary ballots seeking both Democratic and Republican nominations to advance to November. There are four Democratic and four GOP nominations to be won Tuesday, respectively, meaning a candidate could hypothetically finish outside of the top four in one party's primary and still secure enough support in the other's to earn a spot on the November ballot.
Cleary, who isn't cross-filed, seeks only a Democratic nomination. She was previously appointed to fill a vacant seat on the school board in January 2022 and served until December 2023, following an unsuccessful run for a full term.
Chesek won election to the school board in 2021, currently serves as the board's vice president and seeks a second term.
Board members appointed Strzelecki late last month to fill the vacancy created by former Director Katie Gilmartin's resignation. She's serving the remainder of Gilmartin's term, which expires in December. That seat is on the ballot this year, with Strzelecki seeking election to a full four-year term.
Brazil is the school district's retired former chief information officer.
Light refreshments will be served at Thursday's MLK Commission-sponsored event. School directors serve without compensation.
