BELOIT — With no elected incumbents on the ballot, voters choose four new names on Tuesday to serve on the West Branch Board of Education.

Voters filled three of the seats from a field five and chose Debbie Helm over Svetlana Herron to fill the remainder of the unexpired term ending Dec. 31, 2027, which was vacated by former West Branch Board of Education Member Aaron Hawk.

Peggy Shaver, Penny DeShields and Tonya Dean were voted into the other seats after unofficial results were reported from the election boards in Columbiana and Mahoning counties.

Shaver led with 1,709 votes followed by DeShields with 1,677. Dean edged out Samuel Jennings for the third and final seat, 1,435 to 1,420. Angela Howell garnered 593 votes.

Helm, who was appointed when Hawk stepped down, received 1,694 votes. Herron received 1,001.

Shaver, 58, is a former elementary teacher and K-8 counselor. She is married to her husband, Loren, with whom she has two adult children, and four grandchildren. She serves as a board member for the Friends of Rodman Library.

Former West Branch Middle School principal and current assistant principal at Fairless High School, DeShields, 53, has never held public office before but has previously served as vice president of the West Branch Education Association and is married to her husband, Walter, with whom she has three children, Kip, Tyler, and Dru.

Dean, 53, is a licensed funeral director and crematory operator and co-owner of Dean’s Funeral Home in Sebring. Dean is married with two adult children and serves as president of the Cemetery Board for Mount Union Cemetery in Alliance.

Helm, 61, is a certified clinical systems administrator. Helm has worked at Crandall Medical Center for the last 30 years, where she is currently an Administrative Nurse and Manager of Technical Operations and the Staff Education Department. Helm is married to her husband Mike, with whom she has five adult children, Adam, Shane, Stephanie, Kyle and Dana, and has eight grandchildren and has been a member of the University of Mount Union’s Nursing Advisory Board for the last 10 years.

The shakeup on the school board began when current board members Joe Courtwright and David Yaggi were removed from the ballot and Bryan Hobbins withdrew. The Mahoning County Board of Elections voted against certifying Courtwright’s candidacy on Aug. 19 under the grounds that he failed to fill out his circulators statement and decertified Yaggi’s candidacy on Sept. 3 after finding that he had signed a petition after circulating it. Hobbins withdrew from the race on Sept. 3.