Mercer County Common Pleas Court judges will interview four candidates for a vacant seat on the Farrell Area School Board.

Farrell residents Sadie R. Benham, Leslie Hite, Brian K. Sanders Sr. and Michael Zaborowski applied for the seat left vacant by the Jan. 1 death of longtime school Director Rose Marie Branca.

Farrell and Wheatland residents had until 4 p.m. Thursday to apply at the courthouse

Notably absent from the pool of candidates is Brenda Branca, Mrs. Branca's daughter.

The school board interviewed four people for the vacancy on Jan. 28 and narrowed the field down to two -- Ms. Branca and Mrs. Benham. A final vote resulted in a tie, with four directors voting for Ms. Branca and four for Mrs. Benham.

Unable to break the deadlock and fill the vacancy, the board asked county judges to do it.

"We'll probably be doing interviews the first part of next week," said Court Administrator Peter A. Morin.

Ms. Branca explained her decision not to seek the appointment Friday.

"I didn't care for the circus atmosphere that occurred at the January meeting by the audience," she said.

"There is a certain segment of this community that wants to make everything a black and white issue. My mother was never about race. The majority of things she did were done for the minority students at Farrell High School," she said.

"So now your newspaper won't have the Branca name to kick around about nepotism anymore,'' Ms. Branca said.

Mrs. Benham ran for a school board seat in 2001 but lost by 1 vote in the May primary. She ran a write-in campaign for the general election but lost by at least 300 votes to Mrs. Branca.

Zaborowski applied to the school board for the vacant seat, but withdrew his name before the board interviewed candidates and voted on Jan. 28. Ms. Hite and Sanders are new candidates.

The appointee will serve until Dec. 2003. The last two years' of Mrs. Branca's term will be subject to election.