Thomas Kerek*, Kane Area SD (McKean Co.)
Greetings from the northern part of the Pennsylvania Wilds: to the sprawling city of State College.
I am Major Thomas Kerek (Ret.) a 22 year veteran of the Pennsylvania National Guard and 28 year retired Federal Government Employee. I am currently seeking the Sectional 2 Advisor position within the Pennsylvania School Board Association. Four plus years ago, I was selected to fill a vacant position on the Kane Area School Board and then was elected to serve by the citizens of Kane. Since then, I have been actively involved with Intermediate Unit 9 and the various committees of the Pennsylvania School Board Association. I have served on the Leadership Development and Legislative Platform Committees. I am currently serving on the Educational Political Action Committee, the By-Laws Committee and as the Sectional 2 Advisor. I have also served as the past Coordinating Committee Director for Region 4. Currently, I also serve on the Pennsylvania School Board Association governing board.
My short term vision is to actively engage with the school directors within the region to encourage more participation so that we can achieve a united effort to address educational issues impacting our local communities. I would also like to encourage school directors to adopt and implement the Pennsylvania School Board Association’s “Principles for Governance and Leadership”. I would like to attend the different IU’s within the Region so that a representative of each school district can get to know me and we can interact and engage on the issues that affect our school districts within our region. I also would like to work on active participation in our town hall meetings that is sponsored by Pennsylvania School Board Association.
In my video, I discuss some of the challenges I see facing the state of public education. However, the important long term challenges that I see affecting the school districts within our region involve the active participation with our legislative representatives, addressing “for profit cyber schools” and engaging in conversations that will explore resolution to the unfunded pension liability that affects the retirement situation within the state.
Thank you for your time and I hope that I will earn your vote.
I serve as a school director in the Kane Area SD (McKean Co.). I am also the Intermediate Unit 9 representative for the district. I am passionate about community involvement, especially in the area of education and nonprofit fundraising. I served 10 years as the secretary/treasurer for the Allegheny Highlands Friends of NRA (National Rifle Association) to promote the scholastic shooting sports within the country. I hold a bachelor’s degree in history from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I also matriculated in secondary education at Mansfield University prior to receiving a position with the United States Government. My hobbies include: gardening, model trains, airplanes and rocketry. I also enjoy woodworking, backpacking, muzzle-loading hunting and antiquing with my wife Linda. We are currently restoring an 1895 Victorian Country home to period condition.