Voters
to fill three seats on P'Burg board
Five hopefuls in race. Three
candidates are new, one is an incumbent and a fifth is a
former member.
Sunday, April 16, 206 • By SARAH CASSI • The
Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG | An incumbent, a former
board member and three election novices are vying for three
open seats on Phillipsburg's school board.
Kevin J. DeGerolamo is seeking
re-election, Tammy Yale wants a second nonconsecutive term,
and James Hanisak, Sal Patti and Jim Scerbo are running in
their first elections.
Board members serve three-year
terms.
Making the $88 million proposed high
school off Belvidere Road a reality is the most important
issue facing the district, a majority of candidates
said.
Patti, former athletic director at
Voorhees High School, said he sees the effects of
overcrowding on the high school when he walks by Hillcrest
Boulevard.
"Everyday I walk down there and see all
the trailers," Patti, 60, said. "That's not something that's
conducive to providing education."
If elected, Patti said he will use his 37
years in education to help the school board, like with
reviewing the district's test scores.
"It's an opportunity to use my
experience," Patti said.
Construction issue
The school board needs to take a hard
line with state over the high school, Scerbo, 56,
said.
"Trenton's really dragging their feet,"
Scerbo said. "(The high school) was promised, it's needed
and we should move forward with it."
Scerbo said he also wants to keep the
school tax rate in check.
DeGerolamo doesn't think the high school
will be completed in the next three years, but said
confirming the funding and beginning construction is a top
goal.
DeGerolamo said he also wants to look at
making the state's funding process easier on the district,
instead of the worrisome time it currently is.
"It always seems to be an uphill battle
every year," DeGerolamo, 35, said.
Facilities like the high school are
important for Hanisak, but he said curriculum and the way
the board operate is also key.
"The way people are hired, I think the
board needs to have more input in that," Hanisak, 38, said,
adding the board should weigh filling positions when
spending is a concern.
Yale, who served on the board from 1999
to 2001, said she's not optimistic about the high school's
future.
"I feel that facilities would be great,
but what matters most is what the children do every day,"
Yale said. "I think that's a battle we'll be fighting
forever."
Yale, 42, said she's kept up with board
business since her last term, and said she can add a
mother's perspective to the all-male board.
Reporter Sarah Cassi can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by
e-mail at scassi@express-times.com.
© 2006 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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