Joe Phillips, a Republican whose run in the primary for Mercer County Commissioner fell short, has thrown his hat into another political ring.

Phillips, 43, of 460 N. Stone Base Road, announced last week he is mounting a write-in campaign for a seat on the Mercer Area School District school board.

Phillips said he's running for the 2-year seat against Eldon N. Watson III, who secured both the Republican and Democratic nominations for the seat representing East Lackawannock and Jefferson townships.

Watson, 48, raised the eyebrows of many in the community recently, however, when he asked school officials for the names and addresses of all the children entering kindergarten in the district. And that, in part, prompted Phillips to make his announcement.

"I was very concerned to see someone asking for the type of information he asked of our local children in this area," Phillips said. "And I'm totally against what he's asked for. And that's one of the reasons why I'm entering the campaign to run against him."

After weeks of not revealing why he wanted the names, Watson said via an e-mail last Thursday he wanted them for a private kindergarten he planned to open at one time. But when the school district initially failed to respond to his request, Watson sued in Mercer County Common Pleas Court, citing the information should be available under Pennsylvania's Right To Know Act.

That same day, the district sent him a list of six names of students whose parents had returned release forms saying it was OK for the school to give out their children's directory information.

Phillips, a 1978 Mercer High graduate, has a bachelor's degree in public administration/management from Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn. Phillips, who served nearly two decades in the U.S. Army, is a small business owner and grant writer.

You can e-mail Herald Political Writer Jeff Greenburg at jgreenburg@sharonherald.com.