Marlboro School Board Candidate Suspends 2025 Election Campaign

MARLBORO, NJ — A candidate running for the Marlboro Township Board of Education has officially suspended her election campaign.

In an email statement sent to Patch on Wednesday, candidate Melissa Goldberg said she has withdrawn her run for the board.

Though Goldberg has suspended her campaign, the deadline for school board candidates to drop out of the race was Aug. 15, a spokesperson from the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office told Patch.

While candidates may choose to suspend their campaign or not accept office should they receive a qualifying amount of votes, the spokesperson said they will still appear on all mail-in and machine ballots for the General Election.

If Goldberg does receive a qualifying number of votes in the election, she told Patch that she will not accept that seat on the board.

“I am grateful for everyone I have met,” Goldberg said. “I currently cannot commit to this role in addition to my other responsibilities.”

Goldberg initially ran for the Marlboro Township Board of Education as part of the CORE campaign team, comprised of her, Scott Semaya and incumbent Michael Lilonsky.

On Facebook, current board member Danielle Bellomo posted a screenshot of a post claiming that Scott Semaya has dropped out of the race as well, though Patch has been unable to confirm that with Semaya.

As of Wednesday afternoon, messages left for Semaya have not been returned, but the school board campaign page where Semaya's statement was allegedly posted is no longer visible on Facebook.

Outside of the CORE team running for the Marlboro Board of Education, Kerry Ann Jankowski and incumbent Valentina Mendez are running under the “Knowledge Empowers Youth” campaign.

The candidates are running for three open, full-term seats on the board. The General Election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

This story may be updated as more information becomes available.