TOMS RIVER – The deadline to be on the ballot for the Board of Education election has passed, and the playing field has five candidates competing for three, three-year terms.
School board elections are nonpartisan, in theory anyway. That means that candidates can’t say that they are the Republican choice or the Democrat choice. Instead, they are allowed a short slogan.
Ashley Lamb, Diane Oxley, and Paola Pascarella are running under the slogan Vote Common Sense.
James Capone and LeRoy J. Marshall are running under the slogan For The Students.
Lamb is the only incumbent in the race. The other two board members whose terms are up at the end of the year are not running for re-election. One of them is Lisa Contessa. The other is Michelle Williams, who is running for council instead.
The Toms River Regional Board of Education has a total of nine members. Six are from Toms River. There is one member for each of the three towns that send students: Beachwood, Pine Beach, South Toms River. This year, there are three Toms River spots on the ballot.
This is going to be a busy election year in town. Not only are there three Board of Education spots on the ballot, but there is also the mayor’s seat and three members of the Township Council.
The Republican slate is led by Councilman Dan Rodrick for mayor. The council candidates are Tom Nivison, owner of Silverton Farms, Lynn O’Toole, president of adult community Holiday City Silverton Phase II, and longtime educator Craig Coleman, former principal of Ocean County Vocational-Technical School.
The Regular Democratic Organization of Ocean County is running former Township Committeeman John Furey for mayor, with Michelle Williams and Rhetta Jackson-Fair, a pastor at True Vine Ministries in Bayville, for council. A third council candidate, Kajal Lal, had won the council spot in the primary, but she has stepped down from the running after taking a federal job.
According to county information, September 14 is the deadline to replace a primary nominee for the general election.
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