Eight people will run for three open seats in this year’s Galloway Township School Board Elections, and only one of them is an incumbent.
Galloway Board of Education member Rich Dase was the only board member whose seat was up for election this November who registered to run, according to the Atlantic County Clerk’s Office.
Bob Iannacone and Eileen Kasunich were also up for re-election. Kasunich was up for re-election last year and decided not to run, but when Board Member Kathy Styles-Landgraf resigned last June because she moved out of district, Kasunich replaced her on the board.
Those who registered to run for school board on Tuesday included: Douglas C. Shiner, Jr.; Sherri Parmeter; David Carmen; Ersi Tollja; Robert W. Criss; Madeline Avery; and Wayne Melnik.
Last year, when elections were held in April, only three people, two of them incumbents, chose to run for the three open seats.
The deadline to register for this year’s school board elections was 4 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, June 5. This year’s elections will coincide with national and local political elections, to be held Nov. 6.
In January, Gov. Chris Christie signed a law allowing school boards to move their elections to November, and to pass the budget without voter approval, as long as it remained under the 2 percent cap. The Galloway Township Board of Education approved the move at its ensuing meeting.
Dase was the only board member to oppose the move in the 7-1 vote. Board member John Knorr was absent from that meeting.
In March, the school board passed a $56,123,664 budget, with a tax levy of $27,975,500, the same as in 2011. The budget was under the 2 percent cap.
The reorganization meeting takes place in January, although some reorganizing of the school board has already begun for fiscal matters.
Mike Greb
6:58 pm on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
I'm sad to see both Bob Iannacone and Eileen Kasunich chose not to run for re-election. I've tried to attend the board meeting I could and watch the ones I can't be there for on GTV and I think they were both a great asset. Particularly their work on the Facilities Committee facing very difficult budget chalenges.