Ray Star to join Board of Education
By: Eric Schwarz
A Board of Education seat remained unfilled Tuesday, a day after Janice Mathewson decided to concede in her tied vote with Ray Star for election to the board.
Mr. Star could have been sworn in but did not attend Tuesday’s school board meeting. He did not respond to messages left at his home.
Mr. Star had contested the election results. When polls closed at 9 p.m. April 18, they showed him receiving 38 write-in votes, compared with Ms. Mathewson’s 34, for a one-year unexpired term.
The tie resulted later when several votes were discounted, mostly because the candidates’ names were typed in the wrong place on the ballot.
Ms. Mathewson will continue to represent the district in negotiations with the teachers union as a citizen representative to the board’s personnel committee.
Timothy Calvo, the new president of the board, asked Ms. Mathewson to continue on the committee.
Ms. Mathewson had been chairwoman of the personnel committee while she was on the school board. She served one term of three years and did not run again.
"I knew about the position and knew in February, and decided not to seek the election," Ms. Mathewson said.
She had said, though, that she would accept the nomination so the seat would not remain vacant. Since Mr. Star is interested and had planned to challenge the county Board of Elections’ findings, Mr. Star may serve, Ms. Mathewson said.
"The vote was clearly to me, 38 to 34 (in Mr. Star’s favor)," she said. "I never challenged the results. I can agree with his challenge. Regardless of where they were printed, his votes outnumbered mine."
Ms. Mathewson said she also wanted to avoid having the school district pay for a runoff election which would be necessary of neither candidate conceded or a judge didn’t overturn the election.
Mike Yaple, spokesman for the New Jersey School Boards Association, called the write-in tie in Manville "a pretty unique circumstance."
There would be "no logic" to a runoff election if one candidate doesn’t wish to serve, he said.
"Otherwise, a seat on the school board would be forced upon an unwilling citizen," he said.
He said usually a letter declining the position would be required from an announced candidate, but since Ms. Mathewson and Mr. Star were not announced candidates, the formal declination would not be necessary.
Ms. Mathewson said she was unable to reach Mr. Star on Monday to let him know her decision.
And J. Ronald Gossett, the school board secretary and business administrator, said he tried three times to call Mr. Star between the time he talked to Ms. Mathewson on Monday afternoon, and a day later, with no luck except to leave a message.
The announced candidates for the three-year terms, Mr. Calvo, Jeanne Golden and Ken Lessing, were sworn into office Tuesday.
Mr. Calvo previously served on the board for about five years and was elected to lead the board in the first meeting upon his return.
Ms. Mathewson and Barbara Snyder, the other board member who did not seek reelection this year, both sat in the audience at Tuesday’s board reorganization meeting.