Schools

Primary Day Filings Could Mean Big Changes On Berkeley Board Of Ed After November Election

Candidates have until 4 p.m. to file for four available seats

 

The makeup of the Berkeley Board of Education could change dramatically after the November election, with nearly half of the seats of the nine seats up this year.

Qualified candidates have until at 4 p.m. today to file their nominating petitions at the Ocean County Clerk’s Office in order to have their name placed on the ballot for the November 6 general election.

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As it stands now, four seats are up this year. Three are currently filled by appointed, not elected candidates. The of board member Dawn Parks late last month has left a fourth vacancy.

Parks said in her May 25 resignation she was leaving because of the "lack of professionalism of the members of the Berkeley Township School Board and the mismanagement of Berkeley Township taxpayers funds in reference to the hiring of an interim superintendent."

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"I do not want my name associated in any way with this Board's discussion and their improper use of taxpayer funds," the letter states.

The Berkeley board already has three sitting members who were not elected, but appointed earlier this year.

The began back in November, when former members Thomas Grosse and John Bachionne were elected to the Township Council. They were sworn in on Jan. 1.

Shortly after that, former longtime board president James J. Byrnes announced he was resigning from the board. Byrnes was then appointed to the Township Council to fill out former Councilwoman Karen Davis' Ward 1 seat. He is now Township Council president.

The Berkeley board then subsequently tapped John MacMoyle and Louis J. Tuminaro to fill two of the vacant seats. Tuminaro previously served one term on the board, from 2007 to 2010. But he lost bids for a second term in 2010 and 2011.

The third vacancy was filled shortly after by David Ytreboe. All three men must run again in the November school board elections to retain their seats, Administrator/Board Secretary Laura J. Venter has said.

The nine-member board now has five elected members - President Steven M. Pellechia, Vice-President James Fulcomer, Salvatore Ferlise, Noreiko Kowalewski, and Sophia Gringrich.

Fulcomer, Ferlise and Kowalewski's terms expire in 2014. Pellecchia and Gingrich's terms expire in 2013.

Today is also the petition filing deadline for independent candidates for the general election. That could add an independent candidate to any election on the November ballot — county freeholder, county sheriff, U.S. Senator, for example. The race for the two available seats on the Township Council could also be affected if any independents file to run.

Come back to Berkeley Patch later today for a list of candidates for both the Berkeley and Central Regional school boards.


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