Advisor note: The Panther Press does not endorse any candidate or party above the others, instead seeking to fairly inform the community to the best of our abilities. The following article was written by multiple anonymous members of the press, and, as such, the writing style may vary somewhat throughout; this is in no way intended as an endorsement of any particular candidates or groups. Thank you for taking the time to stay informed and support your local community.
The topic of a school board election is sure to raise a lot of eyebrows. The school board will have a direct impact on school policy and procedures. These are likely thoughts for parents and residents of the PENNCREST school district. The PENNCREST school district is electing its board members as of November 4, 2025. Candidates running for “Parents Improving Penncrest” are Fred Bryant, Amber Wright, and Kathi Despenes. Meanwhile, Tim Brown, Bob Johnston, Dani Schmidt, and Jason Digiacomo are running for “Vote for Penncrest.” Ben Schlipf is running independently. People can vote at their township’s or borough’s polling place.
Now, another question that may be going around is, what do these candidates plan on doing on the board if they are elected? This is a good question and also very important for any elections. It’s important to understand that school boards aren’t supposed to be about politics, but they are; they should be about focusing on educational events. Vote for people who you know will prioritize your, or your child’s, education.
The “Vote for PENNCREST” candidates include Tim Brown, Dani Schmidt, Bob Johnston, and Jason Digiacomo. These candidates focus their platform on promoting evidence-based teaching and protecting AP, honors, and career programs (like Vo-Tech), along with supporting a curriculum focused on critical thinking, core subjects, civics, and the arts in their strides toward academic excellence. When moving to balanced budgets, the “Vote for PENNCREST” school board says that current board members Brown and Johnston “have delivered the most balanced budget in over a decade.” This board also prides itself on ensuring that tax dollars are used wisely and are actually invested in classrooms. These candidates support maintaining up-to-date safety plans and plans to defend services such as special education and reading interventions. This board has also informed the public that they “hired a top-tier safety officer to lead strong, proactive security measures.” They wish to continue community engagement nights in all PENNCREST schools, along with preserving educational tools such as Schoology, Dojo, and PowerSchool, in order to keep parents both involved and informed in the progression of their children. This, along with the demand for transparency, shows their support for parent and community voices. Lastly, to show this board’s local control and depoliticization, Brown and Johnston are keeping CRT and political agendas out of classrooms, advocating for decisions driven by student outcomes, and keeping board meetings focused, civil, and ethical.
For more information on “Vote for PENNCREST,” including their candidates, their platform, their values, and their accomplishments, visit voteforpenncrest.com.
The Parents Improving Penncrest board includes Amber Wright, Kathi Despenes, and Fred Bryant. Their platform focuses on “improving educational outcomes” and “offering career paths for all students” through “Education NOT Indoctrination,” according to the “Parents improving Penncrest 2025” Facebook page. Pushing back against tax increases while keeping a balanced budget is also a major priority, as is respecting the rights of parents with full transparency. What perhaps stands out the most is the group’s stated commitment to preserving “traditional Christian values” and “common sense,” focusing on “protecting women’s sports” and pushing against CRT and DEI initiatives.
Despenes expresses her gratitude for the nomination of the board on the “Parents Improving Penncrest 2025” Facebook page before continuing to say that, in response to people’s questions about what she cares about the most, “One of my greatest passions is helping our early elementary students build a strong foundation in reading… we need to bring phonics back into our curriculum.” In closing, she says if she’s elected, she would “Seek to help improve our focus on early learning, which is foundational for all students’ future academic successes.”
On the board’s Facebook page, Bryant states that he is a U.S. Army veteran and a proven leader, using this, along with his party’s statement of no tax increase, to ask for support in the upcoming election. Bryant uses a method of logos (logical appeal) to convince the community that what the PENNCREST school district needs to be promoting is “literature with positive values, timeless classics, history, and proverbs… instead of controversial materials that promote skepticism, woke ideology, and redefining societal norms.” Instead of the typical closing to vote for him and his party, he uses a closing that causes the community to think about what they think is important to schools and education.
In recent Facebook posts, Wright shows support for the values of her party. Some of these party values include their belief in the power of education to shape our community’s future, the campaign’s foundation on the belief that academic excellence and parental involvement go hand-in-hand, and the promotion of educational choices to “uphold the importance of the family in education and invest in the future of our families through conservative values,” alongside other values talked about on the board’s Facebook page, “Parents improving Penncrest 2025.”
On October 23, a school board forum was held at the Cambridge Springs High School auditorium to clarify their positions on important issues facing the PENNCREST community, including balancing the budget, implementing technology, investing in the community, and handling controversy. Five of the eight candidates attended and answered questions and concerns that parents, residents, and students had. The candidates in attendance were Ben Schlipf, Bob Johnson, Tim Brown, Dani Schmidt, and Jason Digiacomo. All candidates were invited to attend.
The candidate forum was recorded and will be available to view on Armstrong cable on the afternoon of Sunday, November 2, as well as the evening of the following Monday. A follow-up article will be released by the staff of The Pitchfork of Cambridge Springs High School, who hosted the event alongside The Panther Press.
