Crowded board races a sign of the times

While many Middlesex County towns are seeing little or no contest for seats becoming available on boards of education, crowded slates of candidates in both Old Bridge and Sayreville will give residents plenty to choose from in the April 19 school election.

Just three seats are up for grabs in each town, but in Sayreville, some nine candidates — enough to fill a whole board — will battle it out. In Old Bridge, six candidates are hoping to win the three-year terms.

It’s certainly no surprise that so many people want to step up to the plate, given some recent controversies and hot topics that garnered interest in school issues over the last year or so. In Old Bridge, a school redistricting plan that will affect hundreds of students saw great opposition; in Sayreville, teachers’ contracts went unsettled for many months while the superintendent of schools went out on administrative leave after receiving a surprisingly large pay hike a year earlier.

No candidate is running based on one issue, however, and all seem to have a sincere interest in serving their communities. It is our hope that voters will educate themselves on the views and interests of the candidates prior to making their choices. The operation of school districts is a true democracy, and residents should feel free to exercise their right to have a say in this process.