Board seats up for grabs

Roughly a third of all registered Democrats in Pittsburgh turned out for the 2015 primary. But according to A+ Schools, only 20 percent of registered Democrats voted for school board in the same election.

It’s one of the reasons the education advocacy group and other nonprofits are encouraging voters to go “bottoms up” and make their selection for school board first in the Democratic and Republican primary elections on May 16.

“Sometimes we’re so concerned about what’s at the top of the ticket we don’t look at the bottom,” said Tim Stevens, chairman and CEO of the Black Political Empowerment Project, a social justice and civil rights activism group based in the Hill District, at a news conference Thursday.

“We want to make sure you’re paying attention to this race,” added James Fogarty, A+ Schools executive director.

To that end, A+ Schools created a “Vote School Board First” campaign and website — voteschoolboardfirst.org — that Mr. Fogarty hopes will act as a one-stop shop “to close the information gap” about school board races. Users can register to vote and enter addresses to find which of the nine voting districts they live in. “PPS spends more than the City of Pittsburgh, so your tax dollars are implicated in this,” he said. “Whether you have children in the district or not, this is a community development issue, a city development issue.”

Four out of five school board seats are contested this year. In District 3, former city councilman Sala Udin is running against Urban Innovation21 community affairs director James Myers Jr. to replace board member Tom Sumpter, who is stepping down. Both are running as Democrats.

District 5 incumbent Terry Kennedy is vying with Ghadah Makoshi, the founder of Pittsburgh Baby Equipment Rentals LLC, on the Democrat and Republican ballots.

Cindy Falls, who also cross-filed, is aiming to defend her District 7 seat as she faces challenger Conrad Burns, who works for Gaugamela Holdings, a technology incubator that’s suing the district. He’s running only as a Democrat.

Current District 9 school director Carolyn Klug is on the Democratic ticket against a former district employee, Veronica Edwards, who cross-filed.

District 1 incumbent Sylvia Wilson is running unopposed as a Democrat.

A+ Schools will hold a candidate forum 6 p.m. May 16 at the Kaufman Center, 1825 Centre Ave.