By DON STINE
One of five write-in candidates for a seat on the Ocean Township Board of Education garnered enough votes in the November general election to be seated to a three-year term.
Amy McGovern, 36, who is a flight attendant and lives in the West Allenhurst section, outdistanced her four rivals with 329 votes. She will be sworn in with two other winning incumbent candidates at the school board’s Jan. 7 reorganization meeting.
School Board /Business Administrator Kenneth Jannarone said that the county Board of Elections recently officially certified McGovern as the winner and added that the board in now at its full complement of nine members.
Of the five write-in candidates, McGovern, the top vote-getter, was followed by David Estes with 138; Paul Crupie with 78; Carol Ross with 65; and James Dietrich with 51 votes.
McGovern, who is on the PTA at the Wanamassa School, said she conducted a social media campaign to garner support.
“I got my name out there, put up 50 signs in strategic spots in the township, and used word of mouth. I got a lot of support from the community,” she said.
McGovern said she has been attending both regular and workshop school board meetings over the past year after becoming concerned about a proposal to take away recess.
“I started getting involved and I believe it is important to have more community involvement,” she said.
McGovern has two children in the township’s elementary schools, one in special education classes. She said as far as she knows, there is currently no board member with children in the elementary schools.
“I would like to bring more of the elementary school’s view to the board because I don’t think there is much now,” she said.
McGovern said she brings no political agenda to the school board but rather just a concern for the children.
“I am a very caring individual and open-minded. I am willing to listen to every point of view while still voicing my own concerns. I support various programs and care about all of the schools, not just the ones my children are in,” she said.
Two unopposed candidates, who were officially on the November ballot, also won three-year terms to the board while the one other vacant seat had no official candidate and was open to write-in candidates.
Incumbent board member Sylvia Sylvia was top vote-getter with 3,654 votes and incumbent Sean Moore got 3,358 votes.
