Five candidates will run for three seats on the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education in a race where some of the candidates already are staking out positions on the nearly $130 million facilities referendum that may also be on the ballot.
Mary Clurman, Daniel Dart, Brian McDonald, incumbent Dafna Kendal and incumbent Betsy Baglio entered the contest by the July 30 filing deadline. The election will be on Nov. 6, the same day when voters may decide a $129.6 million facilities referendum to build a new school and meet other needs.
In a statement announcing his candidacy, McDonald said he supports the referendum and hopes it passes.
“I also am very sympathetic with concerns raised by residents who would have preferred more time for planning and even greater community engagement,” he said.
Dart said on July 31 that he sees “a clear difference between the candidates.” In his view, Kendal, Baglio and McDonald back the proposed referendum and the agreement Princeton has with Cranbury which permits Cranbury residents of high school age to attend Princeton High School.
Kendal, however, abstained from the vote in June to extend that arrangement with Cranbury by 10 years into 2030.
Dart has said he would vote against the referendum, and repeated his criticisms that it was a “rushed” proposal that is “needlessly expensive.”
“I’m not anti-facilities referendum at all,” he said. “I’m anti-this referendum because I thought it was rushed through without community involvement (and) is needlessly expensive.”
Kendal and Baglio, seeking their second terms on the board, will campaign as running mates.
“I hope the work I’ve done during these past three years has earned me the confidence from the community to be re-elected for another term,” Kendal said on July 31.
Kendal said she felt the outcome of the referendum would not determine who wins or loses the school board race, even if voters pick candidates based on their actual or perceived stance on the facilities proposal.
Kendal, the chairwoman of the board’s facilities committee, said she is not legally allowed to say or do anything to influence how people will vote on the issue.
“The referendum has been a large focus of the board’s work this year, but it’s not the only focus,” she said. “They are old buildings, we have rising enrollment (and) there are steps that need to be taken, but it’s up to the community to approve that.”
Looking ahead, Kendal said union contracts, including with the teachers, will come up for renewal in 2020.
“If re-elected, one of my priorities would be to renew the labor union contracts in an efficient and respectful manner,” she said.
The composition of the 10-member board has turned over in recent years. Board President Patrick Sullivan is retiring at the end of what is his second and final term.
That means starting in 2019, only Cranbury representative Evelyn Spann will be left from the time that Superintendent of Schools Stephen C. Cochrane started in January 2014.
Sullivan declined on July 31 to say which of the five candidates he is backing.
“I’m supporting any candidate who supports public education (and) is serious about supporting all our students,” he said.
This year’s race will have a Princeton University flavor to it. Baglio and McDonald graduated from the university in 1996 and 1983, respectively. McDonald was a classmate of current university President Christopher L. Eisgruber and worked at the university from 2002-10 as vice president for development.
In all, three sitting board members, Baglio, Jess Deutsch and Greg Stankiewicz, have degrees from Princeton, along with Cochrane, a 1981 graduate.
