STATE – Despite the recession and a growing movement against increased taxes, voters passed a majority of the school budgets in Middlesex and Union counties on Tuesday.
Voters approved school budgets in 16 of 21 Union County school districts, though Garwood, Hillside, Kenilworth, Linden and Plainfield voters rejected their districts’ spending plans. Eighteen of 24 school budgets passed in Middlesex County; budgets failed in Edison, Carteret, Sayreville, Monroe, Perth Amboy and Helmetta.
While a majority of South Amboy voters agreed to a $42,000 plan to restore middle school sports programs that were eliminated last year, the second question did not receive the sixty percent of the votes needed to pass .
The budgets that failed will now be reviewed by municipal officials, who will decide whether to make cuts. School boards may then accept the cuts or appeal to the state commissioner of education.
Incumbent school board members won re-election in most local districts, with a few notable exceptions:
A slate of candidates backed by Perth Amboy Mayor Wilda Diaz defeated their challengers, including school board member Joel Pabon Sr. Pabon had previously allied with former Mayor Joseph Vas, who was indicted last month on corruption charges.
Roselle Mayor Garrett Smith backed a slate of candidates including incumbent Charles Simmons, but they lost to challengers Shondalyn Gales, Michael Boyd and Anthony Esposito.
Here are the results for the communities in our coverage area. Winners are in bold, incumbents are marked with asterisks (*).
Carteret:
Yes: 300 No: 438
Danielle Distefano: 372
William E. Davis: 553
Martin Murray*: 569
Fred E. Gerstler*: 492
Clark:
Yes: 735 No: 394
Henry R. Varriano*: 761
Gregory DeSalvo*: 710
Jill Curran*: 772
Edison:
Yes: 2,903 No: 4,081
Deborah A. Anes*: 3,030
Alka Aneja: 2,184
David J. Dickinson*: 2,566
Ralph Errico: 1,711
Joseph Romano*: 2,779
Natu Patel: 1,620
Christina Olsen-Hussein: 991
John Szilagyi, Jr.: 1,343
Frank Heelan: 2,538
Elizabeth
Yes: 1,558 No: 1,273
Full Term
Robert Petty: 877
Elcy Castillo-Ospina: 1,903
Raul Burgos*: 1,938
Maria Da Rassi: 991
Armando Da Silva*: 1,897
Stan Neron: 1,615
One-Year Term
Eddie Branquinho*: 1,966
Linden
Yes: 858 No: 966
William Motley*: 1,238
Joann M. Fruciano: 552
Jacqueline D. Williams: 791
Darell A. Richardson: 395
Tracy Nunez: 461
Zephaniah Gibson: 73
Manuel K. Donelson: 586
Nicholas Nigro: 562
Raymond J. Topoleski*: 662
Charlette Richardson: 474
Metuchen
Yes: 955 No: 711
Mary T. ‘Terry’ Kohl*: 962
Eileen Frowenfeld: 928
Tanya Andrews: 518
Frances Brennan*: 1,005
Jo Ann Sabatino-Falkenstein: 516
Perth Amboy
Yes: 512 No: 1,273
Israel Varela: 623
Maria Valdez: 642
Joel Pabon, Sr.*: 949
Obdulia Gonzalez: 1,435
Kenneth Puccio: 1,526
Samuel Lebreault: 1,184
Nikole Collins-Puri: 559
Rahway
Yes: 616 No: 424
Lillie Henderson*: 688
Bernard Robson: 592
Michael Staryak*: 676
Theresa Mikajlo*: 647
Roselle
Yes: 595 No: 389
Kenneth Haynes: 622
Shandolyn Gales: 692
Michael Boyd: 652
Charles Simmons*: 591
Anthony Esposito: 708
Charles Mitchell: 561
Sayreville
Yes: 1,241 No: 1,641
Kevin E. Ciak*: 1,586
Helen Bruno-Raccuia: 1,531
Laurie Esposito: 1,731
Jill Trapp*: 1,643
South Amboy
Q1 – Yes: 359 No: 274
Q2 – Yes: 337 No: 277
Lynn Kasics: 404
Paula L. Taggart: 394
Write-In: 151
Woodbridge
Yes: 3,651 No: 2,650
Paul Lund, Jr.: 2,010
Monica Michelle Smith: 1,528
Lawrence G. Miloscia*: 2,659
Ezio Tamburello: 2,809
Andrew P. Zajacek, Jr.: 535
William F. Neveil, Jr.: 310
Judy Leidner*: 2,774
Patricia H. Ryan: 1,205
Peter Romanienko: 1,746
