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Incumbents Ousted, Three New Members Elected To School Board
By Keith Hagarty
Out with the old and in with the new was the consensus amongst Brick voters on Tuesday as three new faces were elected to the Township Board of Education.
First time candidates Vicky Leone, Michael Pifko and Kim Terebrush defeated incumbents Frank Pannucci, Daniel Rosa and Edward McBride for three board seats.
For two available board three-year terms, Leone was the leading votegetter with 4,012 votes, or 28 percent, and Pifko finished with 3,728, or 26 percent of the vote. Pannucci gained 3,576 votes, or 25 percent, with fellow incumbent Rosa getting 3,216 votes, or 22 percent.
In a tightly contested battle for the available one-year term on the board, Terebrush received 3,690, or 52 percent of the vote, while board incumbent, McBride, received 3,359 votes, or 48 percent. Write-in candidates accounted for eight votes, or .11 percent, of the overall vote.
McBride had been filling the remaining term of former board member Brian DeLuca, who resigned in December after being elected to the Township Council. State law required McBride to run for election this year for the remaining time left on the tenure of DeLuca's former seat, expiring in April 2009.
Now a homemaker, Leone, 41, is retired from the U.S. Army, and worked for the state Departments of Commerce and Homeland Security. She is also member of the Parent Teacher Associations (PTA) at Lake Rivera Middle School and Brick Township High School (BTHS), and coaches the Brick National Little League team, as well as serving as the parent coordinator for the high school's softball team.
Pifko, 52, an attorney and partner in the law firm of Czarnecki & Pifko on Herbertsville Road, has blasted the current board throughout the budget process, saying the direction of the school district is off course and needs a healthy dose of new, fresh faces.
As a 24-year township resident, Pifko has volunteered as a coach for Twin County Soccer Association and Brick American Little League. He is married with three children, one of whom currently attends Veterans Memorial Middle School.
Serving as a member of the Brick Township Economic Development Commission, Terebrush, 48, said her decision to run for a board seat was driven by increasing reservations she had regarding the fiscal direction of the district. She said the board should work towards providing the town with an educational system the parents and residents can be proud of.
She also suggested that establishing a sound structure in the school system could have lasting positive effects in luring attractive tax ratable into town, revenue, an avenue, she said, which has not been properly focused on by the current board.
Rosa served one three-year term on the board, with McBride serving out DeLuca's remaining term for the last four months.
After serving on the board for 18 years, Pannucci, 68, cited the district's multimillion budget gap and proposed closing of two schools as defining issues in this year's election, saying the board had to do the best it could when faced with a no-win situation.
"We have to tighten our belts one way or another," said Pannucci, a retired high school teacher. "It's either firing people, or closing our schools."
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