Incumbents Only Petitioners to File for School Board

Tuesday’s 4 p.m. deadline to file petitions to run in November’s school board elections has come and gone and the only candidates to file petitions in Verona and Cedar Grove are familiar ones.

According to officials at the Essex County Clerk’s Office, the following incumbents met the deadline and filed petitions to run unopposed for school board seats: 

Verona:
• Current Board of Education President John Quattrocchi
• Current Board of Education Vice President Joseph T. Bellino

Cedar Grove:
• Current Board of Education President Frank G. Mandala Jr
• Current Board of Education member Laura Marinelli

“Serving on a school board is a challenging and rewarding form of public service,” said John Bulina, president of the New Jersey School Boards Association. “It certainly is one way to make a profound impact on your community.”

There are 468 school board seats available in New Jersey school districts on the ballot.

More than 85 percent of New Jersey school boards elected to take advantage of January legislation allowing school elections to be moved to November. Districts that adopted the change are no longer required to submit the proposed budget to the voters as long as it remains at or below the state's 2-percent levy cap.

In a cost-saving measure, school board elections will be held on Nov. 6 along with the general election.