Four municipalities featured competitive school board races in the 2021 primary election. The unofficial results were released by the Butler County Bureau of Elections.

In the Butler Area School District, three incumbents, a former board member and a challenger won party nominations to run for four seats in the general election.On the Republican ballot, incumbent Gary Shingleton led the candidates with 3,533 votes followed by incumbent John Conrad, who received 3,460 votes, incumbent Alvin Vavro, who received 3,397 votes and former board member Nina Teff, who received 3,142 votes, according to unofficial results. Challenger Regenold Griffin received 2,245 votes and will not appear on the GOP ballot in the fall.On the Democratic ballot, Vavro and Teff tied with 1,352 votes followed by Shingleton, who received 1,305 votes and Griffin, who received 1,022 votes, according to unofficial results. All four will appear on the Democratic ballot in the fall.

Without one of the precinct's results being in by press time, it appears the four candidates who cross-filed as Republicans and Democrats for the four seats available on the Freeport Area School Board will appear on the ticket in November's general election.The fifth candidate filed only as a Republican, and was easily overtaken in the race for the four seats on the school board, according to unofficial election results.The district educates students in Buffalo Township in Butler County and Freeport and South Buffalo Township in Armstrong County.Armstrong County's elections bureau director, Marybeth Kuznik, said late Tuesday night that some precincts were taking longer to process because of the large voter turnout and numerous write-in candidates.Because of that, Freeport borough's results were not available as of press time.In Buffalo Township, Butler County, Gary Risch Jr. earned 375 votes, Melanie Zembrzuski 359, incumbent Christine Davis 344, and incumbent John Haven 285.John Vento, who filed Republican only, earned 218 votes.In South Buffalo Township, Armstrong County, combined votes from the two township precincts show Zembrzuski coming out on top at 599 votes.Davies earned 581, Risch 508, Haven 459 and Vento 343.The Eagle will report the race's results when Freeport borough's results plus the write-in and absentee votes are available.

Mars Area School Board had seven candidates vying for four seats Tuesday night, six of whom cross-filed and one who ran as a Republican.The only candidate running for reelection was Christine Valenta.According to unofficial poll numbers, Jennifer DiCuccio, Christine Valenta, Nicole Thurner and Jennifer Stuber claimed to top four Mars Area School Board spots on the Democratic ticket in Mars borough.Justin Miller, DiCuccio, Lee Ann Riner and Thurner also claimed the top four spots on the Republican ticket.

The unofficial results for Slippery Rock Area School District Region 1 show incumbent candidate Heather Scott ahead of challenger Debra Crum on Tuesday night.Both cross-filed in the race, but Scott received 122 Democratic votes and 401 Republican votes, while Crum had 72 Democratic votes and 267 Republican votes.Scott said she wants to continue working to improve several areas in the district, including student mental health, literacy, awareness and enrollment in the vo-tech center and curriculum.“There are numerous issues that we need to address regularly, and I have several goals I want to accomplish if reelected,” Scott said in a previous email to the Eagle. “As chair of the education committee, so many of these items are on my mind regularly.”Despite losing the election, Crum said she plans to stay involved with the school board and the happenings of the district.“I will still be at every meeting,” she said. “I'm just hoping to bring some light to the issues and let parents and public know what is happening in the district.”In Region 2, the unofficial results have incumbents Diane Double and Vito Pilosi besting challenger Angela Llamas-Butler for the two open seats in the region.Double earned 174 Democratic votes and 734 Republican votes, Pilosi earned 168 Democratic votes and 662 Republican votes. Llamas-Butler earned 221 Republican votes.In a previous statement, Double said she wants to continue serving on the Slippery Rock school board, which she has been on since 2016.“My goal is to maximize the education of all of our students and help each child reach their potential while being responsible stewards of taxpayer money,” Double said.Pilosi said he is in his fourth year on the board, and wants to continue improving education in the district for the students within.“My primary goal as a school director would be to provide students in our district the best education possible inside our classrooms with opportunities to broaden their horizons with extracurricular activities,” Pilosi said.