The Election Results

Thank you, Haddonfield voters, for approving the school budget yesterday with 63% of the vote. The budget was approved 1921 to 1138. A few weeks ago I blogged that we needed 1500 yes votes, and we far exceeded that goal with 1921. 35% of registered voters came out to vote yesterday.

Incumbents Cheryl Laney, Steve Weinstein and Joe Ehrhardt were re-elected. New challengers David Raymond and Chris Basner both made a very good showing, and should be commended for running campaigns to serve the community as school board members.

The re-election of the three incumbents is a good thing for our town, and I'd like to give them all a hearty "thank you" for wanting to serve as board members again - the position is time consuming, stressful and difficult. Their experience will serve us all well as they continue the negotiations with Haddonfield's teachers union for the new contract and move from one difficult budget cycle to another.

I have a lot of people to thank for helping with the "get out the vote" efforts. First, Amy Wilson, Terri Foreman, Anthony Sanzio, Judy Greenberg and Lisa George have been tremendous resources and led the marketing and messaging initiatives, and they each did a great job of informing voters about the budget facts. Our team leaders for schools and community groups, Nancy Potts, Aimee Heslin, Sandy Kerbeck, Maryellen DiMarino, Bill Lee, Sue Isaacs, Lauren Kegler, Shani Nuckols, Nancy DeLaura, Liz DeNinno, Denise Brubaker, Marcy Melendes, Joanie Wolf, Carrie Valleau, Beth Glennon, Jane Nugent, Michelle Smith, Ellen Stone and Mark Cavanna, informed voters, posted lawn signs, distributed flyers and pencils and increased our support at the polls. They each had teams of volunteers at each school as well, and I thank all of you who pitched in. The Haddonfield Education Association was a tremendous source of support, and so were School Board members Cheryl Laney and Glenn Moramarco. And I especially want to thank the entire Board of Education and Superintendent Alan Fegley for the effort that went into crafting this difficult budget. They crafted a fair budget that preserved teaching positions, identified difficult cuts, did not increase teachers salaries and covered the state shortfall - in essence, they gave us a budget that was worth supporting, and the approval of 63% of the vote shows great support for their efforts.

And now, my last blog has come to an end. This has been an interesting experiment, and I hope it helped to inform a few undecided voters. I appreciate everyone's support, and again, thanks for voting YES!

-Maureen Eyles