Two in race for Haverling school board
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

BATH - Haverling school board member Rosalie Niemczyk, whose five-year freshman term has included several scraps with the board and school officials, is running for another five-year term.

She will be opposed in that bid by Kanona resident Donette Wager, a Haverling graduate and mortgage originator at Five Star Bank's Bath branch.

Elections for the board are scheduled for May 20, and will include a vote on the district's $30.3 million budget for the 2008-09 school year.

Wager and Niemczyck have included campaign statements and brief biographies in the current issue of the school district's newsletter. Niemczyck, a retired educator, pushes for "common sense school policies" and a fiscally conservative approach to school spending.

"We (Board of Education) members should respect the taxpayers' purse as if it were our own!" she writes. "Realistic reined-in budgets should not surprise anyone and, above all, we must be accessible."

Wager says she will draw on her experience in the banking business to provide sound fiscal leadership. "With my 25- year career in the finance industry, I feel that I can bring a wealth of knowledge to benefit the local taxpayers," she writes.

She additionally calls for attracting more residents to the school district "by providing the quality educational programs we currently have and growing new programs that are keeping pace with the changes in the global economy."

Niemczyck last month voted in support of the 2008-09 budget; however, she has balked at other spending programs, including the district's recently approved $16.5 million capital project.

In 2005, the board passed by a split vote a resolution critical of Niemczyck's conduct and alleging "poor judgement."

In an interview with The Courier after the board vote, Niemczyck denied the allegations, called the board's action "a witch hunt," and threatened legal action.