FAYETTE COUNTY, Pa. — A special board meeting was held in Brownsville Monday evening to fill the empty school board seat that was vacated amid allegations of misuse of funds.
The board member resigned after accusations she’d been misusing money belonging to booster clubs in the district.
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Twelve people in all applied for the chance to fill the spot. Nine candidates spoke at the meeting.
Many alluded to the allegations, including the eventual winner and former eight-year board member Gary Seelye.
“The district itself, I don’t believe the board or the administration really have any power or authority over our booster organizations,” Seelye said.
Another candidate, Dan Silbaugh, says he’s still working on finding a solution to the missing booster club funds. He’s involved with the girls’ basketball booster club run by his wife.
“We were offered to have each booster club open their books to an independent auditor. That was taken to a group level and, unfortunately, voted down,” Silbaugh said.
Silbaugh says he’s reached out to state organizations, including the State Ethics Commission.
“(We want) to see if there was any cross-point where the position of the school board seat would have any influence on the booster club, and how they would’ve reacted to where the monies needed to go,” Silbaugh said.
“It was unfortunate and I believe the organizations should possibly pursue legal action,” Seelye said.
As for the investigation, several community members have reached out to Channel 11 saying they’ve spoken to Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office about the situation. We reached out to the attorney general’s office and were told they could not confirm or deny involvement.
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