Seven candidates filed petitions last week for the upcoming school board election, which will be held on April 21. Six of the candidates have never served before, and three current members – Mauro DeGennaro, Mark Bruscino, and Angelo Adriani – have chosen not to seek re-election, a decision that some observers see as a changing of the guard on the school board.
The election will also give voters the opportunity to approve or reject the budget for the 2009-2010 school year. This year’s budget is $34.2 million.
To file, each candidate had to submit a petition with 10 valid signatures of registered voters in Secaucus. These candidates will vie for three vacancies on the nine-member school board, and each board member who is elected will serve a three-year term.
The seven candidates are Charles Krajewski III, Darryl E. Lewis, Robin Mottola, Gary Riebesell, Tom Roarty, Tom Troyer, and Joseph Tringali.
Troyer is a former school board member. He and Riebesell ran for the school board last year but fell short in their attempts.
Roarty has recently been very critical of new Schools Superintendent Cynthia Randina and the board for its decision to hire a director of education and technology, a newly-created position.
Although Randina has explained that the school board eliminated three administrative positions, and has only created one, thus saving taxpayers $300,000, Roarty has continued to criticize the creation of this new position.
Over the last year the school district has seen an infusion of new blood. During the 2008 school board election two of the three incumbents who ran for re-election – Susan Pirro and William Millevoi – were defeated and were replaced by newcomers Dora Marra and Michael Makarski. In addition, long-time School Superintendent Constantino “Gus” Scerbo retired ahead of the 2008-2009 school year and was replaced by Randina.
Given the economic crisis at both the state and national level, school districts are being forced to make cuts and do more with less, and most school districts have halted all non-essential spending.
E. Assata Wright may be reached at awright@hudsonreporter.com.