Three three-year terms are up for grabs in this year’s Board of Education elections.
It’s time again for residents to consider seeking a seat on the Board of Education.
While school elections are more than three months away April 18 the time to file the necessary nominating petitions is fast approaching.
There will be three, three-year terms up for grabs in each local school district. In Cranbury, the seats are held by Joan Rue, Austin Schraudenbach and Lynne Schwarz; in Jamesburg, by Sherry Theinert, Ann Toth and James Eldridge; and in Monroe, by Marvin Braverman, John Leary and Harold Pollack.
Many key issues face the district’s this year, including enrollment growth in Cranbury and Monroe, school expansion in Monroe and the always bare-bones budget in Jamesburg.
What is done now will have far-reaching implications in the future, so we hope that a few interested citizens will step up and toss their hats into the ring this year. We especially encourage those residents who have been critical of the board in the past to put their names on the ballot and make their critiques a part of the dialogue.
Candidates can obtain board candidate kits in Cranbury at the Cranbury School, 23 N. Main St., in Jamesburg at the Grace M. Breckwedel School, 13 Augusta St., and in Monroe at the board’s central offices, 423 Buckelew Ave.
Candidates must get 10 signatures from registered voters living in the district. One of the signatures can be the candidate’s.
In addition, would-be candidates must: be able to read and write; hold citizenship and one year’s residency in the municipality they seek to represent; have no interest in any contract with, or claim against, the board; not hold office as mayor or member of the municipal governing body; and be registered to vote in the municipality in which they reside.
School board service is not an easy job, because it requires the commitment of considerable time. It also demands an individual who wants to help the community as a whole, not advance the goals of special-interest groups. It is not a job one should seek to achieve personal glory.
A school board member is a state official who has a responsibility to all children in the state, not just to those who attend school in the district.
And it is a job for sincere volunteers who happen to get elected. There is no pay, just the satisfaction of doing a job that must be done well.
That said, we urge those who sincerely want to serve to come forth as candidates this year.