The BOE Votes: Mancuso Loses FH Bid for Third Term

By Elaine Van Develde

Fair Haven Board of Education President Mark Mancuso has lost his bid for re-election, leaving contenders Bennett Coleman, Michelle Buckley and Charlie Jakub filling the three seats up for grabs on the nine-member board.

Mancuso first came to the board by filling an unexpired term five years ago. He will be finishing the end of his second full term on the dais by the year’s end.

The highest vote-getter in the election, which brought out 3,299 voters, was Coleman, with 847. Buckley garnered 655 votes and Jakub 632, according to the unofficial tallies of the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office.

Five vied for the three seats. In addition to Mancuso, Marisa Coar did not win her bid for election. She won 615 votes, or roughly 19 percent, while Mancuso had the least amount of votes cast on his ballot — 540, or about 16 percent.

There were 10 write-ins.

Rumson

The race for three board seats in the Rumson School District was uncontested.

Three ran for three seats.

With a total of 1,595 votes cast, John Connors got the highest number of votes, 533, or more than 33 percent. Charles ”Chuck” Jones III won 532, or just more than 33 percent. And Margaret Simons got 514 votes, or 32 percent, the vote tallies of the Clerk’s Office said.

There were 16 write-ins.

Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School

With three seats up for grabs, only two incumbent candidates ran uncontested to fill them.

Lourdes Lucas and Sarah Maris (both representing Fair Haven) won new terms with 874 and 869 votes, respectively.

Teresa Liccardi, M.D., Rumson representative, did not seeking re-election.

So, there will be an empty seat to be filled.

There were 55 write-ins for that seat.