WEST MILFORD — The school board voting results had a twist this year. Voters returned a few familiar faces to the school board on Tuesday, and they supported a deceased board member whose name still appeared on the ballot, thereby allowing the board to appoint someone to the board for one year.
Voters returned Marilyn Schultz to the school board, making her the top vote-getter in that contest Tuesday with 3,238 votes. James Foody, a former school board trustee, and newcomer Rodney Robbins will take the other two full-term seats that were up for grabs. Preliminary counts gave Robbins 2,2287 votes and Foody 2,296.
They also elected James E. Devor and the late Valerie McGuinness to fill two unexpired terms.
Results with a twist
There were really two school board elections Tuesday: one to fill the three three-year terms that are up every year and another to fill the two unexpired terms.
Five were running for the full term seats and four names were on the ballot for the unexpired terms. Louis Muto finished with 2,126 votes and Edwin Gonzalez had 1,477 in the race for the three full term positions.
The other race is where things were different. Devor and McGuinness were appointed earlier this year to complete the year for the unexpired terms of David and Donna Richards, who moved out of town. McGuinness died unexpectedly in September but her name remained on the ballot, which was already official. Voters had three other candidates to choose from for the two spots: Devor, Steven Drew and Ross Burns. They voted for Devor and McGuinness, thereby giving the school board the opportunity to appoint someone to serve in 2015.
Devor garnered 2,214 votes and McGuinness got 1,957. Drew finished third with 1,874 votes and Burns got 1,771.
There was a push by some in the community to vote for McGuinness so that the school board could appoint someone. On a Facebook page, one person posted that a vote for McGuinness was a vote for the board to appoint someone.
Foody, who ran with Drew and Burns, said this took away the vote from the public.
“I am grateful to the voters of West Milford who decided that me being on the board was important to keep things in balance,” said Foody. “However, I am disappointed that a group of parents, at the direction of the board president, would hijack the election by directing people to vote for the late Valerie McGuiness so the board could fill her seat.”
Koeppe, who wrote a letter to the West Milford Messenger prior to the election urging voters to vote for anyone but Foody, said it wasn’t until a week before the election that she even knew it would be possible to pull the lever for McGuinness.
“It is unfortunate that Mr. Foody is harboring ill feelings about the election results,” said Koeppe. “Hopefully this will be overcome and we will have a cohesive board come January.”
What happens next?
The school board will appoint someone to fill the unexpired term that McGuinness won after it reorganizes in January, Koeppe said. They will interview those interested, just as they did earlier this year. The appointed term will be for one year, through December 2015, with the seat up for election again next November.
“The new board will appoint Mrs. McGuinness’s seat when they take office in January,” said Koeppe. “There is technically no vacancy for that seat’s new term until Mrs. McGuinness is unable to take it.”