White Oak council President Ron Massung isn't happy about the upcoming school board election in McKeesport

In November, five seats on the district's nine-member school board will be up for grabs and two board members from White Oak, Kathy Ritchie and Paula Milko, are not planning to run.

In addition, Chuck Kiss, of Versailles, is also leaving his post.

The seven candidates vying to fill those positions are all from the City of McKeesport. Four of the five Democratic candidates are employed by the city.

White Oak is worried the loss of two of its three board members will result in the borough's being under-served by a board that is controlled by the City of McKeesport, said Mr. Massung, who is also a member of the White Oak Chamber of Commerce.

"This is obscene, having four city employees run at the same time," Mr. Massung said last week, echoing similar comments he made at a school board meeting late last month.

"[McKeesport Mayor Jim] Brewster is taking over the school board," he said.

Mr. Massung said borough council members are contacting other communities served by the district to determine if they share White Oak's concerns.

In addition to White Oak and Versailles, students from Dravosburg and South Versailles attend district schools.

It is possible, he said, that White Oak could join an ongoing lawsuit that would force Mr. Brewster to uphold a provision of McKeesport's Home Rule Charter barring city employees from holding public office.

The plaintiff in that suit, school board member Dave Donato, has asked the district to back his efforts, but so far board members have rejected his request.

In response to Mr. Massung's recent statements, Mr. Brewster said, "Is it McKeesport's fault nobody [from other boroughs] decided to run?"

"It's a slap in the face to the citizens of McKeesport to suggest that we would do something detrimental to the community of White Oak. White Oak is a community we need to prosper," Mr. Brewster said.

Mr. Brewster said he only had advance knowledge that one city employee, parks and recreation director Jim Brown, was planning to run. The other city employees in the race are police officers Joseph Lopretto and Christopher Halaszynski and administrator Steven Kondrosky.

Though the charter forbids it, the city already has one employee on the school board, Deputy Chief of Police Mark Holtzman. He is leaving the board when his term expires at the end of the year.

The term of appointed board member Ocie Paige also expires at the end of the year. He is running as a Republican candidate.

Mr. Brewster said the city is considering changes that would clarify the provision of the Home Rule Charter in question but it would not take action on the matter until after the election.

School board member Barbara Stevenson of Dravosburg said, "If it's the law of the Home Rule Charter, it should be upheld, but I don't think it's for the school board to join the lawsuit. I am not about to spend taxpayers' money on a lawsuit."

If school board positions are all filled by McKeesport residents this year, Ms. Stevenson and Wayne Washowich, of White Oak, will be the only representatives of outlying communities left on the board. Their terms expire in 2009. Ms. Stevenson, who has been on the board more than two decades, said this will probably be her last term.

"Anybody is welcome to run," said Ms. Stevenson. "It's unfortunate that people [from other communities] didn't run in this year's election."

Ms. Stevenson noted that White Oak residents have been in the majority on past school boards.

South Versailles council President John Waravak said his community "never has had anyone on the board" for as long as he could remember.

While it would be nice to have a member of the community on the board, Mr. Waravak said the current election has not been discussed at township meetings.