Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Carol Owens Oleski
Ballotpedia provides comprehensive election coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population as well as mayoral, city council, and district attorney election coverage in state capitals outside of the 100 largest cities. This board member is outside of that coverage scope and does not receive scheduled updates.
Carol Owens Oleski is an at-large member of the Scranton Board of Directors in Pennsylvania. She was appointed to the board in 2013. The seat was up for general election on November 3, 2015. There was a primary election on May 19, 2015. She filed to run in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Oleski won nominations in both primaries and advanced to the general election.[1][2] Carol Owens Oleski won the general election on November 3, 2015.
Oleski was a candidate for an at-large seat on the Scranton Board of Education on November 5, 2013. She lost as a Republican candidate against five other candidates. She was later appointed to the board to fill a vacancy.[3]
Scranton teachers went on strike after working under an expired contract for a month. The strike began on September 25, 2015, and ended on October 13, 2015.[4]
Biography
Oleski is a paraprofessional with Northeast Educational Intermediate Unit (NEIU). She has served as the PTA Vice President for West Scranton High School. Oleski and her husband, Tom, have six children. She has also been a foster parent to more than one hundred children.[5]
Elections
2015
Five of the nine seats on the Scranton school board were up for general election on November 3, 2015. There was a primary election on May 19, 2015.
Incumbents Paul Duffy (D/R) and Carol Owens Oleski (D/R) won re-election, while Democratic challengers Bob Lesh and James Timlin joined the board. Cross-filed candidate Tom Schuster also won a seat on the board. They defeated Republican candidates Larry Wynne and Marcel Lisi in the general election. No independent candidates filed to run in the general election.[2]
Joseph Matyjevich and Adam Swieciaszek were defeated in the primary election and, therefore, did not proceed to the general election. Greg Popil withdrew from the race after the primary election. The Republican Party used a substitute nomination certificate to nominate Lisi in the place of Popil.[6]
Results
| Scranton School District, At-Large, General Election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic/Republican |  Paul Duffy Incumbent |
18.0% | 6,821 | |
| Democratic/Republican | Tom Schuster |
16.3% | 6,182 | |
| Democratic/Republican | Carol Owens Oleski Incumbent |
16.2% | 6,158 | |
| Democratic | James Timlin |
15.5% | 5,873 | |
| Democratic | Bob Lesh |
13.1% | 4,964 | |
| Republican | Larry Wynne | 7.9% | 3,004 | |
| Republican | Marcel Lisi | 6.5% | 2,451 | |
| Write-in votes | 6.7% | 2,546 | ||
| Total Votes | 37,999 | |||
| Source: Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, "Summary Report, Certified Results," accessed December 21, 2015 | ||||
| Scranton School District, At-Large Democratic Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Paul Duffy Incumbent |
15.9% | 4,600 | |
| Democratic | Carol Owens Oleski Incumbent |
14.5% | 4,187 | |
| Democratic | James Timlin |
13.2% | 3,811 | |
| Democratic | Tom Schuster |
12.4% | 3,600 | |
| Democratic | Bob Lesh |
12.1% | 3,512 | |
| Democratic | Larry Wynne | 9.8% | 2,832 | |
| Democratic | Joseph Matyjevich | 9.6% | 2,766 | |
| Democratic | Greg Popil | 9.1% | 2,643 | |
| Democratic | Adam Swieciaszek | 3% | 883 | |
| Democratic | Write-in votes | 0.4% | 117 | |
| Total Votes | 28,951 | |||
| Source: Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, "Certified Results," accessed July 7, 2015 | ||||
| Scranton School District, At-Large Republican Primary Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Tom Schuster |
18.9% | 847 | |
| Republican | Paul Duffy Incumbent |
18.5% | 833 | |
| Republican | Carol Owens Oleski Incumbent |
18.2% | 817 | |
| Republican | Greg Popil |
15.5% | 697 | |
| Republican | Larry Wynne |
14.2% | 636 | |
| Republican | Adam Swieciaszek | 8.8% | 397 | |
| Republican | Write-in votes | 5.9% | 264 | |
| Total Votes | 4,491 | |||
| Source: Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, "Certified Results," accessed July 7, 2015 | ||||
Funding
The Lackawanna County Department of Elections does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.
Endorsements
Oleski received an official endorsement from the Scranton City Democratic Committee.[7]
2013
Results
General election
| Scranton School District, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2013 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democrat | Robert Casey |
19.9% | 9,014 | |
| Democrat | Mark McAndrew |
19% | 8,627 | |
| Cross filed | Cy Douaihy Incumbent |
18.4% | 8,354 | |
| Cross filed | Bob Sheridan Incumbent |
16.9% | 7,648 | |
| Republican | Bob Lesh Incumbent | 13.1% | 5,938 | |
| Republican | Carol Oleski | 12.2% | 5,546 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in | 0.5% | 240 | |
| Total Votes | 45,367 | |||
| Source: Lackawanna County, "Certified Election Results," accessed December 14, 2013] | ||||
Primary elections
| Scranton School District, At-Large Republican Primary Election, 4-year term, 2013 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Bob Sheridan Incumbent |
14.4% | 907 | |
| Republican | Carol Oleski |
12.9% | 811 | |
| Republican | Bob Lesh Incumbent |
11.5% | 724 | |
| Republican | Cy Douaihy Incumbent |
10.9% | 682 | |
| Republican | Mark McAndrew | 10.5% | 659 | |
| Republican | Robert Casey | 10.4% | 653 | |
| Republican | Tom Borthwick | 9.6% | 604 | |
| Republican | James J. Timlin | 8.8% | 550 | |
| Republican | Tom Schuster | 8.7% | 546 | |
| Republican | Write-in votes | 2.3% | 145 | |
| Total Votes | 6,281 | |||
| Source: Lackawanna County Board of Elections | ||||
| Scranton School District, At-Large Democratic Primary Election, 4-year term, 2013 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Robert Casey |
12% | 4,272 | |
| Democratic | Cy Douaihy Incumbent |
11% | 3,900 | |
| Democratic | Bob Sheridan Incumbent |
10.6% | 3,773 | |
| Democratic | Mark McAndrew |
10.5% | 3,727 | |
| Democratic | Bob Lesh Incumbent | 9.8% | 3,495 | |
| Democratic | Carol Oleski | 8.4% | 2,984 | |
| Democratic | Tom Schuster | 8.2% | 2,925 | |
| Democratic | Tom Borthwick | 8.1% | 2,872 | |
| Democratic | James J. Timlin | 7% | 2,492 | |
| Democratic | Kevin J. Manley | 5.6% | 1,980 | |
| Democratic | Todd Hartman | 5.1% | 1,818 | |
| Democratic | Douglas J. Miller | 3.5% | 1,234 | |
| Democratic | Write-in votes | 0.3% | 92 | |
| Total Votes | 35,564 | |||
| Source: Lackawanna County Board of Elections | ||||
Oleski ran for election to the board on November 5, 2013, against incumbents Cy Douaihy, Bob Lesh and Bob Sheridan, as well as fellow challengers Robert Casey and Mark McAndrew.
Campaign finance
Oleski reported no contributions or expenditures to the Pennsylvania Secretary of State.[8]
Endorsements
Oleski had no published endorsements for the 2013 campaign.
Campaign themes
2013
Oleski's campaign website provided themes for the 2013 election:
| “ | If Elected to the Scranton School Board, I will focus on:
We need to make sure that every dollar we spend is used to improve academic outcomes for every student within our district.[9] |
” |
| —Carol Oleski's campaign website, (2013), [10] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Carol Owens Oleski' 'Scranton School District'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Scranton School District, Pennsylvania
- Scranton School District elections (2015)
- Scranton School District elections (2013)
- Embroiled incumbents see differing outcomes in May 19 school board elections across five states (May 21, 2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Scranton School District, "Board of Directors," accessed March 16, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, "List of Candidates, Municipal Primary, May 19, 2015," accessed March 18, 2015 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "candidates" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ The Times Tribune, "Scranton School Board appoints Oleski and approves new gym for West," November 13, 2013
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedrally - ↑ Carol Oleski for Scranton School Director, "Home," accessed November 1, 2013
- ↑ The Times-Tribune, "Lisi best-known name on new candidates list," September 11, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Scranton City Democratic Committee," April 28, 2015
- ↑ "Pennsylvania Department of State," "Campaign Finance Online Reporting," accessed December 19, 2013
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Carol Oleski for Scranton School Director, "About Us," accessed November 1, 2013
| 2015 Scranton School District Elections | |
| Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania | |
| Election date: | Primary election: May 19, 2015 General election: November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent Paul Duffy (D/R) • Incumbent, Carol Owens Oleski (D/R) • Bob Lesh (D) • Marcel Lisi (R) • Joseph Matyjevich (D) • Greg Popil (D/R) • Tom Schuster (D/R) • Adam Swieciaszek (D/R) • James Timlin (D) • Larry Wynne (D/R) |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
 |
State of Pennsylvania Harrisburg (capital) |
|---|---|
| Elections |
What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2025 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures |
| Government |
Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy |
