Colts Neck School Board Results: 'Colts Kids First' Team Elected

COLTS NECK, NJ — The Colts Kids First team - Jason Orrico, Kevin T. Walsh, Vincent Rugnetta and Angelique Volpe - swept the Colts Neck Board of Education election Tuesday, in unofficial results.

Board President Heather Tormey, the only incumbent seeking re-election, was not voted back into office. The other members of her Collaboration, Communication, Consideration team were also not successful in their bids for first terms on the board.

Other board members still completing terms, who are not affiliated with Colts Kids First, are Alison DeNoia, Brenna Dillon and Amy Dimes.

That means that in January, the nine-member board will have six self-avowed "socially and fiscally conservative" members, according to board member John Camera.

Camera was elected last year on the slate, along with Jessica Ramirez and another candidate who could not be seated because he did not live in town at the time of his candidate filing. That unexpired term was won Tuesday by another member of the Colts Kids First Team.

The election results will not be final and certified until all mail-in and provisional ballots are counted, Camera noted. But he said he is confident the team will be seated in January.

Tormey and her team congratulated the winners:

"Our team extends a sincere congratulations to our Colts Kids First opponents on a well fought win. This was not an easy election for our community; all of our passionate efforts were extremely forceful as they were centered around our children and community," she said in a statement.

She also thanked the team's supporters and the Colts Neck Township Education Association - "the true heroes" who impact students' futures.

Camera has been a leader of the current Colts Kids First members on the board, including pushing for amendments to Policy 5756, which provides guidance regarding transgender students, such as communication with parents. Schools were not required to notify parents if students came out as transgender, particularly if there was concern of abuse by parents because of the "outing."

Many districts found they could respond on a case-by-case basis to such a scenario and protect a student, yet keep parents in the loop.

However, some districts in the state are repealing or amending the policy. Colts Neck tabled action on amendments to require notification this summer, a move Camera opposed.

The board, led by Tormey, did not want to be another defendant in an expensive discrimination lawsuit by the state Attorney General, who is suing districts such as Marlboro and Manalapan-Englishtown and Middletown that did amend the policy.

In the interim, the state acknowledged the policy is not mandatory and Colts Neck was able to freely rescind it, with no blowback from the state - which the board did.

But the cultural issues raised did evoke lots of reaction - often angry and emotional - and put Colts Neck and other school boards in the spotlight.

Here is the unofficial vote tally for all the candidates. (Note: Candidates Walsh and Volpe, board members-elect, are husband and wife.):

Colts Neck Board of Education (Full term; vote for three)

• Heather Tormey: Collaboration, Communication, Consideration - 1,416
• Allison File: Collaboration, Communication, Consideration - 1,380
• Vanessa Dawson: Collaboration, Communication, Consideration - 1,419
• Jason Orrico: Colts Kids First - 1,723
• Vincent Rugnetta: Colts Kids First - 1,651
• Kevin T. Walsh: Colts Kids First - 1,667

Colts Neck Board of Education (Two-year unexpired term; vote for one)

• Audra Carletta: Collaboration, Communication, Consideration - 1,398
• Angelique Volpe: Colts Kids First - 1,667

There was no contest for the Freehold Regional High School District full term, with candidate Carl Accettola representing Colts Neck.