New Directors Join MASD School Board

At reorganization meeting, board elects Seropian president

By Adam Reinherz
The Tube City Almanac
December 05, 2025
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

Magisterial District Judge Eugene Riazzi gives the oath of office to School Directors David Donato, Kevin Kovach, Jason Pavlecic and Arla Payne. Donato and Pavlecic are returning to the board, while Kovach and Payne are newly elected. (Adam Reinherz photo for Tube City Almanac)

Kevin Kovach and Arla Payne have been sworn in and taken their seats as McKeesport Area School Board members.

At a re-organization meeting on Thursday, the board elected School Director David Seropian as the school board’s new president.

Seropian was elected to the board in 2023 after serving more than 20 years as the district’s business manager. Among his first tasks was helping to negotiate a new contract with the teachers’ union.

“I'm the person that likes to work with everybody — get everybody to work together,” Seropian said, adding that when disagreements arise, “we’ve just got to come to a consensus and try to move the district forward the best way we feel we can.”

When both Payne and School Director Jason Pavlecic were nominated as vice president of the board, Seropian suggested a compromise, where one would be elected first vice-president and the other second vice-president. School directors instead opted for a single vice president. Board Members David Donato, Kevin Kovach and Arla Payne voted for Payne. Diane Elias, Matthew Holtzman, Mark Holtzman, Jason Pavlecic, Matthew Keller and David Seropian voted for Pavlecic. 

Pavlecic, the board’s new vice president, thanked fellow members for their “confidence” and welcomed the new school directors.

Those two new board members both have long ties to the area and voiced commitment to advancing its future.

Arla Payne (above) and Kevin Kovach (below) are the newest members of the McKeesport Area School Board. (Adam Reinherz photos for Tube City Almanac)

Kovach is a 1997 McKeesport graduate and lifelong McKeesport resident, who has spent more than two decades at the McKeesport Fire Department. He formerly served as McKeesport Area High School’s boys varsity basketball head coach for three years.

Payne has called McKeesport home for more than 50 years. Along with being a notary public for more than two decades, she has 10 children and two great grandchildren. Payne has also fostered 71 children over a 17-year span.

Kovach and Payne were sworn in alongside returning School Directors David Donato and Matthew Holtzman.

“There’s a lot to do, but I am excited to get to work,” Kovach said. Residents can expect to “always have my honest opinion on things,” he continued. “I won't always vote on one side or what appears to be one side or the other…but whatever's best for the kids, the taxpayers or the shareholders.”

Payne called Thursday’s meetings — which included elections for temporary president, president and vice president of the school board — “wonderful,” yet reiterated her purpose as a school director.

“I'm basically here for the children and the community, that's who put me in this position, and I'm going to take care of them,” she said. “I'm going to be the best that I can be, and I'm going to focus on the children. If I focus on the children, the community will be great because they're the future.”

Former school board President Mark Holtzman Sr. served as temporary president to chair the reorganization meeting. Holtzman, who remembers a member of the board, said he has “no regrets” with any decisions made by the school board under his two years of leadership.

“Many times the right decision in this school district was not the popular one, and I took the heat, and I never wavered, and I never would,” he said.

Holtzman said his focus as board president was school safety, curriculum and infrastructure — and touted the district’s financial position. “There has been no tax increase in the last two years, and we've got a $20 million fund balance,” he said.

On Thursday, Holtzman noted his eagerness to remain a school director and said, moving forward he is committed to “opening the teachers contracts” in an effort to raise salaries and recruit new teachers.  

Wages starting at $44,000 a year are unacceptable, he continued. “We’ve got to do something with that.” 

According to a report from the Penn State Center for Evaluation & Education Policy Analysis, Allegheny County is experiencing a “moderate” teacher shortage and still needs an additional 397 qualified teachers.

Adam Reinherz is a Pittsburgh-based journalist. He can be reached at adam.reinherz@gmail.com.

Originally published December 05, 2025.

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