Central Regional School Board Race A Hot One

by Patricia A. Miller

Although technically school board races in New Jersey are supposed to be non-partisan, that is not the case in many municipalities in the state.

And the race for the two available seats on the Central Regional Board of Education is no exception.

Only one of the six candidates is a true independent in this election - current school board President Robert J. Everett Jr. He is proud of the fact that he hasn’t accepted a dime from anyone in this bitterly-contested race. He is seeking his third term.

The same probably cannot be said of some of the other candidates. You can usually judge how much a candidate has received in contributions by the size of their campaign signs.

A large flashing electronic sign was perched on a lot off Route 9 Monday afternoon, urging residents to vote for candidates George Dohn and Jason Mroczka. That has to be a first. Word on the street is that the Ocean County GOP organization is throwing a lot of money into this race.

Dohn, 311 Coolidge Avenue, is a Berkeley Township police officer and a member of the Berkeley Township Office of Emergency Management team. Mroczka is also a Berkeley Township police officer.

Former longtime board member Denise Pavone-Wilson - who served from 2001 to 2013 - is running with Debra Matthews. Pavone-Wilson served three full terms and part of a fourth before she resigned in 2013 to take a job in the Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School in Seaside Heights.

Matthews, 44 Dockage Road, was appointed in 2013 to fill Pavone-Wilson’s unexpired term.

Both Dohn and Mroczka contend that state law mandates Pavone-Wilson will have to step down if elected, since the Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School is part of the Central Regional school district and is overseen by Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides.

Pavone-Wilson disagrees and says she never would have filed to run if she had to give up her seat.

Mackres, 9 Halsey Avenue, was elected in 2013 to a one-year term and then was appointed in March of this year when Keith Buscio resigned to run for a seat on the Township Council.

He is a school business administrator in the Spring Lake Heights school district. He has an MBA from Columbia University.

Parlapanides’ future at Central Regional could hinge on the outcome of the election. Although the current board gave him another three-year contract in September, it contains a clause that he be given 90 days notice if the board decides to end his contract before it runs out.