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School election results
(by Cindy Forrest - April 23, 2008)
Even with the price of gas sprinting up over the $3 a gallon mark only a small percentage of voters made their voices heard on the question of the 2008-2009 school budgets. Those that did overwhelmingly gave educators a thumbs up on budget increases.
In 36 of the 41 school districts in the Morris County the budgets proposed by the school board passed. In the county, where there are 297,038 registered voters only 16.27 percent or 48,328 cast a vote. Of those 883 were absentee ballots and 47,445 were cast at a polling place.
Boonton
Voters in Boonton followed the trend and said yes to the proposed $14.5 million budget. After an extended negotiation period over salary issues the board of education finalized multi-year union contracts for teachers and school workers in January. With pressure from parents, students and also teachers, who were exiting the school system at an alarming rate, the board lamented the difficulty of finding a balance between what would satisfy the union and still be agreeable to taxpayers. It seems they hit the mark because the budget won 554 to 413.
Boonton also had four special questions on the ballot, which was effected by new legislation. A law passed n April 2007 now requires a super-majority approval of second ballot questions. Those special questions have to receive 60 percent yes votes from the voters that participated in the school election.
Asked if the district should spend an additional $24,580 to add a girls' lacrosse program, the voters said no -546 to 419. The voters also nixed, 593 to 365, the idea of spending an additional $62,410 to add a full-time cooperative education teacher at the high school. Regarding the question of whether to spend an additional $62,410 to add a full-time student assistance counselor for the district, the voters said no 595 to 359. Finally, as to whether the district should spend an additional $64,999 to add 60 computers to the high school and middle school, the voters again said no 547 to 404.
Taxpayers in Boonton also went against the grain by not re-electing incumbents. Ousted were Pamela Botka (279), Richard J. Hoffman (323) and Irene LeFebvre (301). Taking their three-year seats were newcomers Debra L. Recchia (590), Linda R. Gloshinski (498) and Sonja Chapman (422). Debbie Bonanni took the one-year seat with 522 votes.
Dover
The three incumbents, who ran unopposed, were Lynn Laurie with 283 votes, Scott Miller with 319 votes and Susan Shauer with 282 each walked away with three-year terms.
The $12.9 million budget also passed easily, 266 to 129.
Montville
Voters shuffled the deck on the school board by re-electing one of two incumbents and two newcomers. Timothy Lindert (821) lost a bid at another three-year term along with newcomer Frank Cooney (1.056). While incumbent Michael J. Palma (1,456) will return with newcomers Matthew S. Kayne (1,369) and Paul Przetak (1,117).
Mountain Lakes
By a margin of 60 votes Mountain Lakes voters passed the proposed $17.5 million school budget, 218 to 158.
For the board of education, the three 3-year term seats went to newcomer Diane Grinnell Burch with 272 votes and incumbents David A. Gniewek with 259 and Bill P. Munday with 264. Edged out was newcomer Judy Weiker who received 204 votes.
The three unexpired term seats went to three candidates that ran unopposed. The one two-year term seat was won by LaVonne Feigeles (333) and the two 1-year term seats went to Mark M. Cohen (303) and Gail S. Boertzel (320).
Parsippany
History wasn’t repeated in Parsippany this year when the largest school budget to date, $107 million in tax levy passed by a margin of 329 votes. John Cesaro, President of the Town Council, had noted before the vote that traditionally the budget only passes every other year. “In 2006 the budget was rejected, and in 2007 it passed so this year it will likely not pass,” he said. If the voters had rejected the proposed budget it would have gone to the town council to be amended.
This year’s school budget, which goes towards the education of 7,200 students in 12 schools in the K-12 district, will increase property taxes by 3.5 percent. Last year a home assessed at $306,000, the average in Parsippany, was billed $6,520 in property taxes. The board of education’s 2008-2009 budget, which represents 63 percent of the entire tax bill, will increase that tax by $135. The school budget vote was 1866 in favor and 1549 against.
Incumbent Robert Crawford with 2128 votes and newcomer Dr. Louis Valori, a police sergeant on the Parsippany force, with 2246 votes garnered two of the three board seats available. Until recently, Andy Choffo rounded out the three-man ticket, however, when one of the 10 signatures on his nominating petition was ruled invalid, school officials were forced to take his name off the election ballot.
Choffo ran as a write-in candidate for the third seat. Friends of the incumbent were handing out flyers at some of the polling places. Of the 826 write-in votes that were cast Choffo was the unofficial winner with 379 votes. Former Democratic Parsippany council candidate Milin Shah received 156 votes Carol A. Trapp 97 votes and Kenneth Kaplan 12 votes.
According to the clerk’s office there were hundreds of people that received one vote and many of the 182 write-in ballots were used to make statements such as “no more taxes.”
Victory Gardens
The voters of Victory Gardens rejected the proposed school budget.
Thirty-eight voters cast their ballots. Nine were in favor of the budget and 29 opposed. There was no official candidate for the one three-year term school board seat available. Twenty-six write-in votes were cast to fill the slot. Dawn Evans was the unofficial winner with 22 votes. Barbara Glass received 2 votes, Valerie Williams 1 vote and one write-in ballot was empty.
Rockaway Township
Former board president Frank Giarratano with 1,784 votes and fellow incumbent Diane Power, also with 1,784 votes, both ran unopposed for the two available three-year term seats on the K-8 district board of education.
The voters affirmed the $38.3 million budget, 1,524 to 1,225.
Morris Hills Regional School District
After a year of that left many Rockaway Township parents feeling frustrated over the student population from their town split between the two regional high schools, voters ousted long-time school board member E. James Soltys (1,051) in favor of Robert Crocetti Jr. (1,578) and Roger A. Schneider (1,137).
Overall the voters in the four towns that fund the regional school district approved the budget $44.8 million budget: Denville 1,240 to 1,015; Rockaway Borough 309 to 299; Rockaway Township 1,439 to 1277; Wharton 293 to 281.
Wharton
Only five votes, 291 to 286, put the $7 million K-8 school district budget over the top. Running unopposed, incumbents Anthony Astrologo with 308 and Marc Towne with 304 each won three-year terms on the school board.
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