*Editor’s note: This story was updated to add comments from the county clerk about outstanding ballots.
TOMS RIVER – Just like how national races are taking days to compile, local races like the Toms River Board of Education was not complete on election night.
There were nine candidates running for three, three-year terms on the board.
As of right now: Michele Williams, the lone incumbent running for re-election, is keeping her seat. Newcomers Lisa Contessa and Ashley Palmiere took the other two seats.
The county received almost 50,000 votes since these results were first tallied. Now, not all of them will be in Toms River, but they might impact who is in the lead.
These amounts have not been certified yet. That usually takes a few weeks.
The Boards of Elections have until November 10 to accept mail-in votes, Ocean County Clerk Scott Colabella said. They will only accept ballots post marked by 8 p.m. on November 3.
After that, the provisional ballots will be checked. These are ballots people fill out at the polls. They have to be compared against mail-ins to make sure people didn’t vote twice.
They also have to solve problems with any ballots that were questioned for not having a matching signature.
The clerks will certify the election results on November 23.
These election results still have to be certified:
Lisa Contessa, Toms River 1st team, got 13,042 votes. She is the vice president/senior marketing officer for OceanFirst Bank.
Ken Londregan, Toms River 1st team, got 10,485 votes. He is a vice principal at Carl Sandburg Middle School, Old Bridge Township.
Ashley Palmiere, Toms River 1st team, got 10,715 votes. She is the owner and designer at Pretty Things Florals & Décor, director and stylist at Sniptease Salon & Spa, and floral sales manager at Native Floral.
Michele Williams, “Children First” team, got 10,749 votes. She retired as Principal of St. Joseph Grade School. She was elected to the Board of Education in 2017.
Rachel Remelgado, “Children First” team, got 8,981 votes. She has a Masters Degree in Psychiatric Rehabilitation and specialized in mental health/addiction services and program management.
Daynne Glover, “Children First” team, got 7,603 votes. She is a Policy and Outreach Associate with Advocates for Children of New Jersey.
Bridget Maillard, “Moving TR Forward” team, got 8,933 votes. She handles client services for EPA Financial Services Corp. If chosen, this will be her first elected office.
Robert Onofrietti, Jr., “Moving TR Forward” team, got 8,128 votes. He is a mortgage broker and has been running his own business for seven years. He previously served on the Board of Education, spending one year as its president.
Christopher Raimann, “Moving TR Forward” team, got 8,001 votes. He is presently employed with the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office as a supervisor in charge of the 9-1-1 Center. He was on the Board of Education from 2016-2018.
There were 463 write-in votes.
During the campaign, Williams answered questions from this paper by issuing this statement:
“The biggest issues facing our district are COVID-19, the educational delays as a result of loss of school time for our children, and the financial losses due to New Jersey Senate Bill 2.
“The pandemic has resulted in virtual learning for most of the students in our district. From the beginning, I have supported the immediate return to the classroom for Special Education and all early learners. I believe my voice was instrumental in the October return for Kindergarten and Grade 1.
“I will continue to strongly encourage our district administrators to be creative in addressing all the obstacles to this end. Having said all this, we cannot cut corners when it comes to the safety of our children and all Toms River District employees. We all want our children back in school, but it must be done safely following all State mandates and CDC guidelines.
“Due to the loss of in-class instructional time, I am most concerned with the educational delays that are currently happening and which will continue throughout this school year. As a voice of our community, I am adamant that the administration be clear as to the specific procedures and strategies to mitigate the educational harm facing our children.
“I hope to propose a policy along with my fellow board members for the formulation of a Comprehensive Education Recovery Plan. This plan is to be created by the administration and implemented by our educators. The plan should include enhanced educational resources, baseline assessments and the necessary staff to see the plan through. This remediation is essential to educational recovery and possible to achieve. I share everyone’s desire to get back to normal, but we need a plan.
“With S-2, if nothing changes, by the year 2025 we will have lost $100 million in State funding. The cuts thus far have devastated our district and, if they continue, will decimate it completely. This cannot happen. Our District should remain committed to the legal pursuit to obtain the State’s “secret funding formula.” Besides the legal challenge, all leaders of our community, civic, business, and elected must unite with us behind this cause. Our schools define who we are as a community. Defunding our schools means the State is defunding our community. It is as simple as that. We must fight back.”
During the election, Contessa and Palmiere sent a joint statement about their beliefs: “We would work to open schools now for ALL students 5 days. Everyone agrees the virtual model is not effective. Our kids need socialization, face to face time with their teachers and less screen time, not more. Recognizing that there will be a percentage of children/families that want to stay home and remain virtual we’d certainly support that. Students who would like to return should be able to do so as long as they follow the guidelines of wearing a mask whenever social distancing is not possible. Temperatures can be taken prior to riding the bus, or upon entering school. If a child feels unwell, they would be sent home until they are well enough to return.
“We would work on generating additional revenue streams for the schools. Starting with booking events at the RWJ Barnabas Center and the bubble at Intermediate East. We would aggressively seek out and book advertisers for all buses as well as utilizing our high school fields for tournaments, etc.
“We’ll never stop fighting for our fair share of funding from the state. I myself have visited Trenton three times in an effort to get a transparent and complete look at Governor Murphy’s S-2 Budget and a reversal on his decision to subvert our funds to other districts. We’ll never give up the fight for our fair share of state aid.
“We would vote NO for the elimination of any extracurricular activities, music, the arts or sports. We have the business acumen and expertise to generate revenue, eliminate waste and reduce spending without cutting into these programs.
“We would conduct a thorough analysis of all professional service contracts and seek to renegotiate for more affordable services.
