The Centre County Democratic Committee has made its pick for a candidate in a special election to fill a vacancy on the State College Area School Board.
Jennifer Black will appear on the ballot in the Nov. 4 election as the Democratic nominee for the two-year position, Centre County Democratic Committee Chair Margie Swoboda said in a statement on Thursday.
Black ran in the May primary for one of the four full-term school board seats up for election this year, but came in fifth in both the Democratic and Republican votes.
The interim school board seat will be up for special election in November because member Dan Kolbe moved out of state and resigned from the board in June with more than two years remaining in his term. Jesse Barlow, who is running for one of the full four-year term seats in November, was selected by the board on July 1 to fill the vacancy until the election.
Because the two-year seat was not on the primary ballot, the Centre County Democratic and Republican party committees are able to select their nominees for the position. The Centre County Republican Committee did not respond to an emailed question on Thursday about whether it had picked a candidate.
The Centre County Office of Elections said in an emailed statement that neither party has yet submitted the paperwork for nominees to appear on the ballot for the two-year school board position. They have until Sept. 15 to do so.
Black, a resident of Halfmoon Township for more than 20 years, is a mother of three and a professional tutor who maintains her teaching certificate. A graduate of Penn State’s College of Education, she was a Bellefonte Area Middle School teacher for six years.
Her daughter Abby Smith died by suicide at the age of 14 in 2024, which led to her becoming an advocate for mental health support and an external review of the State College School District’s suicide and bullying prevention strategies and policies.
Black is active in the Survivors of Suicide Support Group and is training to become an American Foundation for Suicide Prevention volunteer.
She “is very active and has been involved in various volunteer and professional activities within the SCASD since 1998,” according to the Democratic Committee statement.
Her community involvement has also included serving as a WPSU Education Ambassador, as well as a Girl Scouts volunteer, troop leader and delegate. She has been a Penn State College of Education Alumni Board member and was the PTO Book Fair Chairperson for Gray’s Woods Elementary School for nine years.
“Jennifer is running to create connections among all members of the SCASD community,” Swoboda said. “She wants to ensure that the education of all students remains the focus of the board and that the mental health needs of our students, faculty and staff are being considered and met.”
