A slate of school board candidates identifying as conservative are looking to sweep this November’s election for Knoch school board’s four available seats, while an independent candidate is also in the running.

Sitting board member Anthony Infante is running alongside Matt Bartlett, Lorie Musloe and Jake Weidner. The four appear together on a Facebook page “Conservative Knoch School Board Candidates.”

The only other candidate running for one of the four seats is Jeff Beckstead, an independent.

The four conservative-identifying candidates have all been endorsed by the Butler County Republican Committee of Pennsylvania, according to its website.

Infante is running for a second term and has served on the board since 2021. He is the president of Knoch’s football boosters and has been a volunteer junior varsity baseball coach for nearly a decade. He said on Facebook he is a small-business owner.

Musloe said she has resided in Knoch School District for 20 years and has two sons in the district. Her background includes working for nonprofits and in fundraising.

She said on the Facebook page she is running to serve families with integrity, accountability and “a strong commitment to conservative Christian values.”

Bartlett said on the Facebook page he is a Knoch parent with two children attending the district. His background is in information technology consulting and he has worked with school districts and their technology directors in his role.

“I am running because I want every student to have the opportunity to succeed in a safe, supportive and academically excellent environment and to find the same success after graduation,” Bartlett said on the Facebook page.

Weidner said he previously served in the Navy, and has a background in pharmaceuticals manufacturing, corporate information technology, project management and financial management.

“I hope to leverage these various experiences to make common sense decisions for Knoch students, families and staff.

The four candidates could not be reached for additional questions about their campaigns.

Beckstead, who has lived in Clinton Township for the past 25 years, is a retired physicist and business management executive. He said he is actively working with several educational nonprofits that engage students and focus on career readiness skills, with an emphasis on business, entrepreneurialism, creativity and robotics.

Beckstead said he would work to limit the use of executive sessions and encourage increased visibility and engagement from families and residents at meetings. He also advocates for fiscal responsibility and wants to make sure students are equipped to enter a “rapidly changing career landscape.”

He is critical of Knoch school board’s ongoing participation in litigation against the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission. The lawsuit claims that the commission, along with the state executive branch, is “expanding” the interpretation of sex beyond male and female and that they do not have the authority to do so.

“The school board violated its own policies and possibly Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act, by adding a ‘time sensitive’ agenda item within 24 hours and rushing a $10,000 expenditure for additional ‘legal services,’ with no explanation as to why it was ‘time sensitive.’ Our taxpayer money could be better spent by focusing on programs for Knoch’s students, not on paying lawyers,” Beckstead said.