6 Seek 3 School Board Seats In Ocean City: 2025 Election

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Six candidates will battle it out for three open seats on the Ocean City Board of Education this November, according to the Cape May County Clerk's Office.

The deadline to file for candidacy in the Nov. 4, 2025 school election was July 28.

School board elections are nonpartisan, though candidates can run under a slogan.

Three seats for three-year terms are open on the Ocean City Board of Education. Running under the slogan "Empower All Students" are incumbent and current Board President Kevin Barnes and Jennifer Cawley-Black, who filed a joint petition. Also under the slogan "Empower All Students!" is Jennifer Dwyer.

Running under the slogan "Transparency & Common Sense" are Elizabeth Nicoletti, Catherine Panico and Robin Shaffer. Nicoletti and Panico are incumbents; Shaffer ran on a slate previously with the two in the 2022 election to fill an unexpired term. In 2023, he lost that seat in a close race for its full term.

Those three ran on opposing controversial sexual education standards in the 2022 election.

Here are the candidates who filed to run with their slogan. Asterisk denotes incumbent.

• Kevin Barnes* (Empower All Students)
• Jennifer Cawley-Black (Empower All Students)
• Jennifer Dwyer (Empower All Students!)
• Elizabeth Nicoletti (Transparency & Common Sense)
• Catherine Panico (Transparency & Common Sense)
• Robin Shaffer (Transparency & Common Sense)