Lois Turner
Lois Turner was a candidate for at-large representative on the Brick Township Board of Education in New Jersey. The general election was held on November 3, 2015.[1] Turner was running as part of the Progress Not Politics slate with Lawrence Reid, Walter Campbell and John Talty. Lois Turner lost the general election on November 3, 2015.
Elections
2015
Opposition
The Brick Township Board of Education consists of seven nonpartisan members who are elected at large to three-year terms. Four seats on the Brick Township Public Schools advisory board were up for general election on November 3, 2015. The at-large seats of incumbents Michael Conti, Frank Pannucci Jr. and Susan Suter were on the ballot for three-year terms. A fourth one-year term was on the ballot due to a resignation on the board.[1]
Newcomers Victoria Pakala, Stephanie Wohlrab and John Lamela won election to three-year terms, while George White defeated former board member John Talty for a one-year term.
None of the three incumbents filed to run for re-election, though Talty, the member who resigned from the board in April 2015, ran for his former seat. He left the board to recover from heart surgery and he faced challenger White in his bid to return. The race for the three three-year term seats attracted a total of 10 candidates: Walter Campbell, Madeline Colagiovanni-Iannarone, Leonard Figula, Victor Finamore, David Fischer, Lamela, Pakala, Lawrence Reid, Lois Turner and Wohlrab.[2][3] Campbell, Reid, Turner and Talty were running as part of a slate called Progress Not Politics.[4]
Results
| Brick Township Board of Education, At-large (3-year term), General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Victoria Pakala |
16.6% | 4,006 |
| Stephanie Wohlrab |
15.9% | 3,831 |
| John Lamela |
14.5% | 3,491 |
| Lois Turner | 10.1% | 2,427 |
| Madeline Colagiovanni-Iannarone | 9.7% | 2,338 |
| Walter Campbell | 9.1% | 2,194 |
| Lawrence Reid | 7.3% | 1,771 |
| David Fischer | 6.6% | 1,591 |
| Leonard Figula | 5.8% | 1,388 |
| Victor Finamore | 4.1% | 993 |
| Write-in votes | 0.33% | 79 |
| Total Votes | 24,109 | |
| Source: Ocean County, "2015 General Election November 3, 2015, Official Results," accessed November 20, 2015 | ||
Funding
Turner ran as part of the Progress Not Politics slate, which reported $3,393.90 in contributions and $1,817.34 in expenditures to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission as of October 27, 2015.[5]
Endorsements
Turner did not receive any official endorsements in this election.
Campaign themes
2015
Turner answered the following questions from Brick Shorebeat about issues in the district:
| “ |
Do you currently receive any public salary compensation? If so, from what public agency? Do not have any public salary compensation.
Have never held an elected office. As it presently stands, the administration of the Brick school district remains in flux. What should the academic priorities of our administrators be over the next three years? The academic priorities of our administrators, at all levels should be providing the best educational environment for all students allowing them to thrive. This should include availability of technology appropriate to the grade level, a comfortable environment within their classrooms and buildings and an effort by administrators and staff to continue to find ways to engage the parents and encourage more involvement. At its core, a public school district will always be judged based on the achievement of its students. Though Brick’s performance has improved in some areas in recent years based on state data, that same data has repeatedly shown that the Brick district lags in the category of college and career readiness. In a competitive state like New Jersey, what specific initiatives should be put into place to ensure that Brick students will be able to compete in both college and the marketplace with their peers who reside in the state’s highest-performing districts? One way to improve our academic performance would be to create academies within our high schools. The two academies offered by the Ocean County Vocational Schools are in Lakehurst and Manahawkin. Academies would serve two purposes, they would keep some of our best and brightest within our school district and they would also make our district more attractive to potential tuition paying students. Most Board of Education meetings are extremely lightly attended. On some occasions, concern has been expressed that not enough parents are engaged in the academic aspects of the school experience. What specific ways can the district better engage parents and members of the community with the aim of bringing them into discussions on academic achievement? It is very difficult for parents to attend board meetings as most families now have two working parents. As Board meetings are usually lengthy, it is not feasible for parents with younger children to attend. I have found that when an agenda item directly affects any one group, they will attend in large numbers. I feel that the schools are the better avenue for engaging parents in discussions of academic achievement. I would suggest that these meetings be held during convenient times for parents and that Board of Education members be invited to offer input or field questions and concerns. People who want to comment at Board meetings have to wait until the very end of the meeting. Perhaps changing up the agenda to allow comments at the beginning would encourage higher attendance and more discourse between the community and the board. In recent years, some long-sought facilities improvements have been completed in various school buildings. With the condition and age of the district’s facilities continuing to be a chief concern among Brick residents, which improvements and/or upgrades would you prioritize, and which funding mechanism would you favor to finance those projects? I would always prioritize improvements on a safety first basis. Anything that potentially could harm our students or staff should be first order of business. I would next look to improve overall comfort within our buildings. When the temperature within the classroom is extremely hot or cold, it is not conducive to productivity. As for financing, I would always look within our budget for items that could be reduced or cut without reducing services. Increasing taxes would always be a last resort. |
” |
| —Lois Turner (2015), [7] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Lois Turner' 'Brick Township Public Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Brick Township Public Schools, New Jersey
- Brick Township Public Schools elections (2015)
- Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015)
- What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 App.com, "Embattled Brick BOE faces flurry of candidates," July 29, 2015
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedapp - ↑ Ocean County Clerk's Office, "2015 School Board Candidate List November 3rd General Election," accessed August 4, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Progress Not Politics," accessed October 27, 2015
- ↑ New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, "View a Candidate or Election Related Committee Report," accessed October 27, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Brick Shorebeat, "Brick BOE Candidate Profile: Lois Turner," October 29, 2015
| 2015 Brick Township Public Schools Elections | |
| Ocean County, New Jersey | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large three-year terms: • Walter Campbell • Madeline Colagiovanni-Iannarone • Leonard Figula • Victor Finamore • David Fischer • John Lamela • Victoria Pakala • Lawrence Reid • Lois Turner • Stephanie Wohlrab At-large one-year term: • John Talty • George White |
| Important information: | Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
