Newcomers Challenge Wallingford Swarthmore School Board

By NEIL A. SHEEHAN

Times Correspondent

NETHER PROVIDENCE — There will be a modicum of competition in the Nov. 8 election for the Wallingford-Swarthmore School Board, with only one race featuring more candidates than there are available seats.

In the contest for a pair of four-year seats in the school district’s Region II, current board member Joanna Sloskey will seek a new term while Paul Schregel and Leslie Splain will aim to join the nine-member board for the first time. All three have cross-filed, which means they will be listed on both the Democratic and Republican ballots.

Region II encompasses Nether Providence’s Wards 1 and 5, the 2nd Precinct of the 6th Ward, the 2nd Precinct of the 7th Ward and the Borough of Rose Valley.

Previously, there was a fourth challenger in the Region II race, Democrat William Shields, a retired special agent for the U.S. Customs Service who was the top vote-getter for that party in the May primary.

However, Shields said he had to withdraw from the race due to a change in employment which will likely involve extensive travel.

Sloskey was named to the school board last February to fill a vacant seat. The 35-year-old, who works as a Realtor, has been a Nether Providence resident since 1981, graduated from Strath Haven High School in 1993 and is the mother of a 5-year-old son.

“As a longtime resident and a graduate of Strath Haven High School, this puts me in the unique position of being the only board member that is a product of our school system,” said Sloskey, a Democrat.

She said her goal is to preserve and build efficient programs, re-examine the areas in which the district may struggle, ensure the district offers an education designed to meet the goals and challenges of the 21st century, “while practicing fiscal responsibility in these tough economic times.”

Schregel, a 70-year-old Rose Valley resident, is a former employee of Scott Paper Co. He began there in 1961 as an intern and retired from the company in 1994. Since retiring from Scott, Schregel, a Republican, has done consulting work and co-founded a weight-loss company that ultimately did not succeed.

Schregel, whose two children are Wallingford-Swarthmore graduates, said he is interested not only in maintaining educational quality in the district but also keeping costs under control.

Splain, 32, has been a police officer with the Folcroft Police Department for the past seven years. She is also a co-director of the Society for the Advancement of Women in Law Enforcement and a mother of five, all of whom attend district schools.

“One reason I decided to run for school board is that I obviously have a vested interest in the management of the school district because my children attend school here,” said Splain, a Republican.

She said she would seek greater fiscal accountability, especially in light of “wasteful and thoughtless spending that is occurring.”

Meanwhile, there will be two candidates running unopposed in the district’s Region III, which covers Swarthmore and Rutledge. Board President Mary Gay Scanlon and current board member Richard Sonntag are seeking two seats, so both are assured of victory.

Scanlon, a public interest attorney, has been on the board since 2008, and earlier served as co-chair of the district’s Tax Reform Study Commission. She is also a member of the newly formed Foundation for Wallingford-Swarthmore Schools, which seeks to raise money for educational enhancement initiatives.

During Scanlon’s first term, the board has overseen the launch of a long-awaited $18-million renovation/expansion project at Wallingford Elementary School. A major undertaking going forward will be a planned overhaul of Nether Providence Elementary School.

Sonntag, a chemical engineer for the DuPont Ink Jet group in Wilmington, is also going after a second four-year term. He has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Catholic University of America and a doctorate in chemical engineering from Princeton University.

Another unopposed candidate is board Vice President Vincent Marriott, who represents the district’s Region I, which consists of Nether Providence Wards 2, 3 and 4, the 1st Precinct of the 6th Ward and the 1st Precinct of the 7th Ward.

Marriott is an attorney with a Philadelphia law firm. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a law degree from Duke University School of Law. He is a father of five whose his wife is a professor and chair of the Education Department at Saint Joseph’s University.