Two teachers who work at other schools and a chemist who works at her brother’s pizza shop are slated to join the New Kensington-Arnold School Board in December.

Jane Graham, Nick DiCarolis and Sarah Yurga all were unopposed in the Nov. 2 election.

The trio will join the nine-member school board when it reorganizes on Dec. 6. None of them had previously held or sought an elected office.

Graham, 38, is a teacher in a pre-kindergarten classroom at All Kids Are Special, a child care center in New Kensington.

DiCarolis, 33, teaches social studies at Provident Charter School, a school for children with dyslexia, in Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill neighborhood.

Yurga, 48, has a degree in chemistry and previously worked in the field. She now works with her younger brother, Patrick Elston, at his pizza shop, Gus Franco’s Pizza, in Lower Burrell.

They will replace incumbent board members who did not seek reelection this year.

Graham was elected in the district’s Region 1, where she replaces Bob Pallone. DiCarolis is replacing John DeAntonio in Region 2.

In Region 3, Yurga will fill one of the seats held by Scott Bussard and Chelsea Stone. A fourth candidate, Peter Nkemakolam, was on the ballot but will not be able to claim the seat because he lives in Region 2.

Nkemakolam’s ineligibility will create a vacancy on the board that will need to be filled with an appointment.

Superintendent Chris Sefcheck said he’s working with district Solicitor Tony Vigilante to determine how that will be done. Sefcheck said he doesn’t expect to have an answer until after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Graham is a Lower Burrell native and 2001 Burrell High School graduate who has lived in New Kensington for 13 years. She and her husband, Brad, have a daughter, 12, and a son, 3.

She earned an associate degree in early childhood education from Westmoreland County Community College. She started working in the field in 2002, leaving it for a while to be a stay-home mom.

“I have been attending school board meetings and committee meetings for a few years now,” Graham said. “I have been part of the conversation. I wanted to become part of the decisions.”

While there are other board members with children in district schools, Graham said her perspective differs because her daughter is younger, in seventh grade. She’s been active in the K-6 PTA.

“I want to make sure that we are bringing the focus back to education,” she said. “We have spent a long time talking about the budget and how to financially get our district where we need it to be. I would like us to start talking about how we can educationally get our district where it needs to be.”

DiCarolis and Yurga are both Valley High School graduates.

After graduating in 2007, DiCarolis went on to earn a bachelor’s in history from Westminster College and a master’s in the art of teaching, with a focus in social studies education from the University of Pittsburgh.

He and his wife, Stephanie, a Brackenridge native and an English teacher, taught at a private American school in the United Arab Emirates from 2012 to 2015 before returning to the U.S. and working in the Washington, D.C., suburbs until 2019.

They moved back to the Pittsburgh area in May 2019 to be close to family, and they both work at Provident. They have three children ages 5, 3 and 10 months.

“Public education is something I feel very passionate about,” DiCarolis said. “Being an educator now for 10 years, I feel like myself and my siblings all really benefited from the teachers and the education programs they had at Valley High School, at the middle school and so forth.

“I want to give back a little bit and help out my community that gave me what I have.”

DiCarolis, himself the oldest of five, said he wants to make sure children in New Kensington and Arnold have the best chance for success possible.

“My brothers and I and my sister, we all have multiple degrees,” he said. “Whether it’s being civil engineers, nurses, accountants, we have been able to go through the New Kensington-Arnold School District and really prosper because of the education we received there. I want to try to give that same opportunity and help that process continue with future generations.”

Yurga graduated from Valley in 1991, and earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Saint Vincent College. She and her husband, Rob, have two daughters, Abigail Yurga, 22, and a 9-year-old in fourth grade in the district.

She worked in a lab at Oberg Industries until Abigail was diagnosed with autism, after which she became a stay-home mom and autism advocate.

As a parent of a child with special needs, Yurga said she understands what they need to succeed.

“New Kensington-Arnold does an amazing job for students with special needs,” Yurga said. “I wanted to be a part of making sure that continues. Our special education department is fantastic.”

Mental health in general is something the district could focus on, Yurga said.

“My youngest has anxiety. I think it’s definitely something that many adults and children suffer from but we don’t talk about it,” she said. “I want to make sure our students are receiving the mental health services that they need. The pandemic has been stressful for all of us, particularly for children.”

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