2 Newcomers, Longtime Incumbent Elected To Lacey School Board

LACEY, NJ — In a close race, two newcomers and a longtime incumbent were elected to the Lacey Township Board of Education, according to unofficial results.

Numbers from the Ocean County Clerk's Office show that incumbent and current Board Vice President Edward Scanlon was just barely beat out by newcomer Cheryl Beuschel-Armato, with Scanlon receiving 3,969 votes to Armato's 4,082.

See the rest of Lacey's election results here.

"Your voices have been heard," Armato wrote on social media. "Your vote made a difference."

Armato, the wife of current school board member Salvatore Armato, ran on the "For the Kids" ticket. Her main purpose in running was to give parents a stronger voice in their children's education.

"School should be exciting and fun for both the students and the teachers. Classrooms should be free from all toxic, radical, political trendy agendas plaguing ours schools," Armato told Patch previously.

She said she wants to bring change to the district, making children feel more welcomed in school while teaching fundamentals with a focus on academic excellence.

"Teachers have been tasked with teaching to standardized testing yet we do not have standardized children," she said. Armato has also been an advocate against the controversial comprehensive health and physical education standards.

Also in the running was another newcomer, Melody Pryor, who failed to win a seat with 3,381 votes, per unofficial results.

Jack Conaty was elected to the school board too, according to the unofficial results. Conaty, a fellow newcomer running on the "Commitment With Integrity" ticket with reelected incumbent Linda Downing and Scanlon, appeared to have received the most votes out of anyone, with 4,897 votes.

"I have been a resident of Lacey Township for the past 37 years, and have always found myself volunteering to help better the town that I love and chose to raise my family in," Conaty previously told Patch.

Another opponent of the sexual education standards, Conaty said that the issues are with the state, and wants to take the battle there.

"The ridiculous mandates from Trenton are some of the biggest challenges facing the District," he said. "We need to be proactive in petitioning lawmakers to reverse or minimize the impact these mandates have on the District."

Incumbent Downing was also reelected and has served on the board for more than 20 years. She received 4,350 votes.

While Downing did not respond to Patch's candidate profile, she told Jersey Shore Online that the most pressing issue in the district is the decrease of state aid over the years.

She told the outlet, "the Governor is forming a study commission to examine state funding. I want to see us lobby for a representative from our district or our governing body to represent Lacey Township on this commission. Our voices in Lacey need and must be heard."

The three will be sworn in at the January Board of Education meeting.