Mercer Area School Board has some new faces running the show after replacements were sworn in Monday following two resignations in December.

Shane Nugent, 37, who is vice president of the health care firm Nugent Group, was selected from a pool of four candidates to replace the seat vacated by Leah Ann Williams.

For a seat vacated by Dr. Michele Rhule, the board appointed Lori Klaiber, 47, who works as an executive assistant at Grove City College. She was the only one interested in that seat.

That means a one-third shake-up for the school board, which saw Jeanne Bacon take over the seat once held by Walter Darraugh during the November election.

Mrs. Klaiber said she has two children who attended but are now out of the school district, and that she has no agenda yet. She intends to spend some time learning the ropes, and said she wanted the spot because she has the time, energy and interest.

Nugent said he moved to the Mercer area two years ago, but has been involved with the community for much longer. He has a 2’-year-old son he hopes will enter the district’s schools soon.

Nugent was voted in by four of seven voting school board members. The other three voted for Greg McCandless, 45, owner of Bill McCandless Ford and Mercury.

Two other candidates answered questions from the board but were not nominated. They included Tracy Lang, 49, who works for Forta Corp, Grove City, and Kenneth Ferrans Jr., 47, who is self employed and helped put together a paid after-school program in Mercer at Cool Springs Fitness, Coolspring Township.