Four are running for three Board of Ed. seats
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The four candidates who are seeking three Lawrence Township Board of Education seats will make their cases for election to the school board at two separate candidates’ nights next week.
The Lawrence League of Women Voters and the Advocates for Special Kids Parent- Teacher Organization are each sponsoring a candidates’ night to allow residents to meet the candidates and ask questions.
The Lawrence League of Women Voters’ candidates night is set for Monday at 8 p.m., in the lower level conference room at the Municipal Building, Lawrenceville Road.
The format at the LWV forum allows the candidates to offer brief introductory remarks. Audience members may submit questions to the forum moderator, who will ask them of the candidates. At the end, the candidates may offer a brief summary.
The ASK-PTO is holding its candidates’ night Thursday, April 3 at the Lawrence Middle School Library on Princeton Pike. The forum will run from 7 to 9 p.m.
The ASK session will begin with presentations on the school district’s proposed $65.3 million operating budget for 2008-09 and the proposed $10.5 million solar referendum.
Following the budget and referendum presentations, the four school board candidates will offer brief remarks and then answer questions posed by audience members.
At the annual school board election April 15, voters will choose three of the four candidates to fill the seats on the board. The terms are for three years. They also will vote on the tax levy for the budget and on a solar referendum, asking for the approval of funds to cover installation of solar panels on all the school roofs.
Incumbent school board members Ginny Bigley and Deborah Endo are seeking their second terms on the board. Former board member Bill Michaelson, who was defeated last year, is seeking another term on the board, along with newcomer Len Smith.
Ms. Bigley, 52, is married and lives on Dustin Drive. She is a stay-at-home mother. Two of her four children are grown. Her youngest daughter and son are a freshman and junior, respectively, at Lawrence High School.
Ms. Endo, 62, is married and lives on Cold Soil Road. She retired from the Lawrence Township school district in 2004. She was a social worker on the Child Study Team in the district. Her three children, who are grown, attended the Lawrence schools.
Mr. Michaelson, who served on the school board from 2005 to 2007, is married and lives on Huron Way. The 50-year-old self-employed software developer has a son who is in the fourth grade at Lawrence Intermediate School.
Mr. Smith, 38, is married and lives on Mark Cermele Court. He is an attorney who practices intellectual property law at the Novo Nordisk pharmaceutical company in Plainsboro. He has a 4-year-old son who is enrolled in the pre-kindergarten program at the Lawrenceville Elementary School and a 2-year-old daughter.