In historic terms, Central Valley's first school board election is significant.

It will trim the 18-member board created by the merger of Center Area and Monaca school districts to 14 -- something that has not happened in Pennsylvania for decades.

As politics, though, it's fairly straightforward. One incumbent -- Center's Tom Dawson -- was eliminated in the primary. Another will go as board members Sherri Weber and Frank Shuster face off for the one available Monaca seat.

Two seats are available in the other Center district, and incumbents Tom Mowad and John McCracken are being challenged by former Monaca superintendent and Center Area board member Mike Siget.

"I think there's going to be minimal impact," Central Valley Superintendent Dan Matsook said. To him, the lack of challengers and controversy shows that the community in general is supportive of the merger.

Two years ago, Center Area voters elected a slate of candidates critical of the merger. The group quickly formed a majority, stalled the merger and nearly killed it.

This time around, the only issue is follow-through. The merger took place July 1, and the elementary schools were consolidated this year. The middle and high schools will be consolidated next year.

Neither Mr. Mowad nor Mr. McCracken were part of the anti-merger election class of 2007 -- Mr. McCracken was already on the board, and Mr. Mowad was appointed in 2008 -- but both were to some extent associated with the skeptics.

Mr. McCracken said many of the things that worried him before still do. "We made a lot of promises," he said. "Now we need to keep them."

The initial results have been good, but he noted that bringing the two high schools together is going to be the hardest part of the process. And he hopes that constituents will be patient because the promised educational improvements will take some time to develop.

"I'm hoping people understand that's not all going to happen overnight," Mr. McCracken said.

Mr. Mowad, who was appointed by the anti-merger majority but proved to be an independent voice and a swing vote, said he hoped to continue to bring a sense of "business decorum" and "creative problem-solving" to the board.

"There have been a lot of people who have done a lot of work, but I do think I had a role in bringing the board together," he said.

Looking ahead, Mr. Mowad sees himself taking an active role in curriculum issues, especially in the gifted programs at all levels. "Different kids excel at different things," he said, "and we need to have something for all of them."

Mr. Siget advised voters to look at his experience, his background in both former districts and his independent voice in assessing his candidacy.

"Both of them together don't have the experience I have," he said. And that means knowledge of people as well as knowledge of education. "I had a lot of them in school," he said of the other board members. "I can look them in the eye and say, 'Hey, I know you!' " he said.

Mr. Siget sees curriculum as a big issue moving forward, but he also thinks independent voices are going to be crucial as the district tackles the emotional issue of high school sports.

"I can be a catalyst," he said. "I can go either way."

In Monaca, meanwhile, Ms. Weber was perhaps the most strident and consistent pro-Monaca and anti-Center member of the Monaca board. Like others, she expects tough decisions on athletics but sees curriculum as the more significant long-term issue.

"It's going to take a few years," she said. "We've already come up with some good options, but it will take a few more years to come up with some newer, more inventive options."

Mr. Shuster touted his background in industrial management as an asset to the board, especially in contract negotiations and budgeting. He also would like to bring some of the ideas involved in the "lean manufacturing" movement to bear on the district.

"It's something we can probably incorporate, even for our faculty in terms of how they do things."

He was appointed to the board in June and missed the controversies of 2008 but said the administration and faculty "did an outstanding job in the first phase. What we learned there will stand us in good stead in the next phase."

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