5 Mars School Board candidates debate
ADAMS TWP — At an event organized by the Mars High School Enrichment Club Thursday afternoon, five candidates running for the four open Mars Area School Board seats discussed election issues and their motivations for running and answered questions submitted by district families.
Two candidates running on both the Democratic and Republican tickets; one running on the Democratic ticket; and two running on the Republican ticket introduced themselves to the community and talked about their hopes for the school district at the debate.
The Enrichment Club moderators, Max Solich and Lauren Miko, asked the candidates questions about a number of topics: budgeting, special and gifted education, resources, divisions in the community and planning for the future.
Nicole Thurner (D/R), 33, of Adams Township, is a family, domestic and juvenile matters attorney who mostly practices in Butler County. She emphasized that her legal background and work on the boards of several local organizations support her experience in running for school board.
Jennifer DiCuccio (D/R), 44, is an U.S. Air Force veteran who lives in Mars with her husband, William, and has one child in the district. During her time in the military, she worked in health care information technology and has been director of the Butler County Humane Society.
Jennifer Stuber (D), 40, is a teacher at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Pittsburgh, and is certified in elementary education and educational leadership. She and her husband, Bryan, have two children in the district. She emphasized her experience in having tough conversations both with administrators and families in the school setting.
Justin Miller (R), 43, lives in Middlesex Township and has operated an excavating business since 2006. He and his wife, Melissa, have two children in the district. Miller describes himself as a proud conservative and identified that he was for low taxes and against mandatory masks and mandates.
Lee Ann Riner (R), 46, worked in an intensive care unit for most of her career at Shadyside Hospital. She and her husband, Craig, have two children in the district. She identified her PTO experience as supporting her run for school board: she has served on the Mars PTO board for five years, and has been vice president for the past two years.
Balancing the school district's budget and making sure that all segments of the student body are being served were both priorities for all five school board candidates.“We can't keep going year to year in what feels like a not thorough look at the budget,” Stuber said. “Our district is rapidly growing, and we are not necessarily accounting for that growth. A five-year-plan budget would allow us to look at class sizes a little closer, and project what type of educational staff we need.”“We have to bring a professional in to help us with that budget, who understands and knows school district business,” Thurner said. “The budget has to be the priority.”“I think our biggest challenge is providing quality education for all students while preparing for growth. We are bursting at the seams at the schools,” Riner said. “We need to look at our own school and improve our cyber program, and prepare a three- to five-year budget.”“We should not have a deficit,” Miller said, and echoed the need for professional budget expertise. “We need to find a way to have a balanced budget. We need to fix the problem, and we need to get someone in here who specializes in it to look at it — maybe they can come up with a good idea.”“The reality is we can't plan for the future with a deficit budget. It's not possible,” said DiCuccio. “You cannot plan for the future if you are deficit spending.”
