Township voters oust incumbents

Endo, Bigley, Hutner win school board race.

By: Lea Kahn
   Township voters turned out two incumbent school board members and elected two newcomers and a former board member to fill three vacancies on the township Board of Education in a hotly contested race Tuesday.
   Deborah Endo, Ginny Bigley and Gerri Hutner swamped incumbent candidates Philip Benson and Carole Drury in an election with an approximately 17 percent voter turnout. A third incumbent, Brett Smith, did not seek re-election.
   Ms. Drury and Mr. Smith were appointed to fill out the unexpired terms of Janardhan Manickam and Larry Reccoppa. Dr. Manickam and Mr. Reccoppa resigned prior to the expiration of their terms.
   Ms. Endo and Ms. Bigley, who campaigned as a slate with the slogan "Let’s Return to Excellence," received 1,931 votes and 1,649 votes, respectively. Ms. Hutner, who served on the school board from 1995 to 2001, placed third with 1,551 votes.
   Ms. Drury received 1,272 votes and newcomer Kari McGann got 1,270 votes. Mr. Benson, the school board president, received 1,072 votes. Bill Nathan trailed with 327 votes. The tallies include absentee ballots.
   This is the second consecutive election in which voters ousted the incumbents. Last year, the voters favored Leon Kaplan, Bill Michaelson and Laura Waters over incumbents Anne Casale and Laurel Goodell. The trio ran as a slate whose slogan was "A Team for Change."
   In contrast to previous election nights, Superintendent of Schools Max Riley was not present at the Municipal Building to wait for the election results. A handful of board members — Mr. Kaplan, Mr. Michaelson and Ms. Waters — were present, but not Mr. Benson or Ms. Drury.
   Dr. Riley said he and School Business Administrator Thomas Eldridge met off-campus and received the election results from staff members who were present at the Municipal Building when the votes were counted.
   Acknowledging the dissension that has swirled around the school board in the last few years, Dr. Riley decided against visiting the Municipal Building to await the results. Some of that dissension revolves around changes to the special education program — including high staff turnover — and a perceived lack of communication between the board and the public.
   "With the public concern about the turmoil, maybe it’s time to think of a different way to get the election results," Dr. Riley said. "My job is to stabilize the schools. The school board will sort itself out."
   The first results came at 9:20 p.m. — 20 minutes after the polls closed. Results from the remaining five polling places quickly followed. The votes were tallied and winners announced at 9:40 p.m.
   Screams of joy echoed in the hallways at the Municipal Building as Ms. Endo and Ms. Bigley and their supporters learned of the election results. The candidates and their supporters exchanged hugs. Ms. Hutner, however, was not present.
   "I’m so happy," said the 49-year-old Ms. Bigley. "The town spoke the way I wanted it to. We ran a good, clean, honest campaign. We wanted the community’s input and they gave it to us. Now, we have a lot of hard work to get the township back on track to be the close community that it has been."
   Ms. Endo, 59, said she was "pleased and excited" by the election results.
   "We are ready to work hard," Ms. Endo said. "We are psyched. We said it was a choice and the people made a choice."
   Ms. Hutner, who is 51, wrote in an e-mail to The Ledger Wednesday morning that she was "proud and happy" to be elected again to the school board.
   "With the support of the community, I believe the Lawrence board can band together and work together," Ms. Hutner wrote. "I believe that it truly is time to set aside our differences and find common ground. I hope I can make it happen. We have a great town, and the nine board members, together with the administration, can make it even better."
   In an e-mail message to The Ledger Wednesday afternoon, Ms. Drury wished the new school board members good luck.
   Mr. Nathan, who placed last in the election, offered his congratulations to the three winners and said they ran a "good" campaign.
   "This is my first time as a candidate and I wanted to learn about everything, and I did," Mr. Nathan said. "The next time I run, I will know how to do it. I am happy with the votes I got. I wasn’t totally out of (the race). I didn’t campaign hard enough. But it was great and I will come to the board meetings."
   None of the other candidates — Ms. McGann or Mr. Benson — returned phone calls seeking comment by The Ledger’s deadline Wednesday.