New school board officers were elected throughout the area last week, with many of the votes taking just a few minutes and involving little discussion.

But in the Steel Valley and Mt. Lebanon school districts, some unusual discussion and comments preceeded the votes.

In Steel Valley, school Director Edward McCallister said he felt compelled to disclose to the public that board members received e-mails that discussed whether or not the district's benefactor William Campbell, chairman of Intuit Inc., was trying to influence the election by supporting a particular candidate.

In Mt. Lebanon, school Director Sue Rose read a statement in support of Alan Silhol, who was elected the new board president. But the statement was also highly critical of outgoing president Mark Hart.

In Steel Valley, school Director Pamela Terrick responded to Mr. McCallister's disclosure by saying that she had heard that school directors Vince Natale and Thomas Olson were lobbied by Mr. Campbell to vote for school Director Joseph Ducar for president. She said if that were true, she thought Mr. Campbell's involvement to be inappropriate.

Mr. Natale explained that he had not spoken to Mr. Campbell personally but had read positive comments that he made about Mr. Ducar in a recent newspaper article and assumed that Mr. Campbell would support Mr. Ducar.

Mr. Olson offered no public explanation.

The board then proceeded to elect Mr. Ducar as the new president, with Mrs. Terrick casting the lone vote against him. Mrs. Terrick had nominated Mr. Natale for president, but he declined the nomination saying he didn't feel qualified since he had been a school director for just one year. He said he would accept such a nomination next year.

Mr. Natale was elected vice president over school Director Kimberly Kubancsek, who was nominated by Mrs. Terrick.

Mrs. Terrick said after the meeting that she still believed that Mr. Campbell used his influence to get Mr. Ducar elected to the board presidency.

She said she had discussed her concerns with Mr. Campbell via the telephone and e-mail and had shared one of the e-mails with other board members.

Mr. Campbell, in a phone interview from New York, where he was traveling for business, said he has no interest in who is president of the Steel Valley school board.

"The last thing I would ever want to do is put my influence into anything they do," Mr. Campbell said.

Currently Mr. Ducar is overseeing the construction of four new classrooms and a gymnasium at Barrett Elementary in Homestead. Mr. Campbell has contributed $3 million for the project.

In Mt. Lebanon, Mrs. Rose said that during the past year the board had seen "an erosion of what I believe is necessary for a healthy and functional school board."

Her statement said the board needed "new leadership to navigate the unsettled waters ahead for our schools."

She also said the board president should be "visible in his support of the schools and advocate for a Mt. Lebanon education."

Mr. Hart offered no public response to Mrs. Rose's statement. But he and school Director James Fraasch were the only votes against Mr. Silhol for president.

School Director Edward Kubit was elected vice president over Josephine Posti.