As a group of school board hopefuls was filing suit in court to stop the construction of the hotly debated Jamestown High School renovation, another group of school district residents was getting ready to file paperwork in support of the issue.

According to Terri Livingston, who is chairing the newly formed political action committee Candidates for Kids, the group didn't get started in response to the lawsuit from the group of school board candidates who oppose the $7.8 million high school renovation.

"When the injunction hearing was being heard, we were already getting our ducks in a row to file all our paperwork," Ms. Livingston said. The group filed its paperwork Aug. 26, she said.

The suit seeking an injunction barring construction of the project was dismissed by Mercer County Court of Common Pleas Judge Thomas R. Dobson on Aug. 21.

While all those on the new committee support the high school renovation, Ms. Livingston said the group primarily supports "well- rounded students."

"The well-rounded student is not just about academics," she said. "The well-rounded student is in sports, 4-H, Scouts, whatever."

In the viewpoint of the 50-some members of the new committee, Ms. Livingston said, the five candidates who will be on the general election ballot in November don't represent the best interests of the students.

With that in mind, the Candidates for Kids committee is staging a campaign to promote ballot write-ins for people they say have the best interests of the students in mind.

The committee put forth five candidates for the write-in campaign. They are: incumbent Kevin Floch of 2657 Fry Road, West Shenango Township, Crawford County; Mary Ergen of 200 Aspen Way, Greene Township; Dawn Richter of 5887 Scott Road, South Shenango Township, Crawford County; David Cook of 140 Sunset Drive, Jamestown; and Hugh Clark of 6569 Linesville Road, South Shenango Township.

They will oppose five candidates who swept the primary. They are James G. Routh, James L. Owens, Beverly J. Riley, Joseph S. Williams and incumbent Debra A. Miller.

All of the winners of the primary spoke out against the renovation, calling the project extravagant and too expensive. Many of them belong to the Jamestown Concerned Taxpayers group, a political action committee formed with the aim of putting a halt to the project.

Ms. Livingston said the new group is being well received in the community; members had marched in the Jamestown Fair Parade Saturday and set up an informational booth and handed out fliers at last week's fair.