Five candidates enter race for school board Will vie for three seats in the April school election BY MICHAEL ACKER Staff Writer SAYREVILLE - Two first-time candidates, two incumbents and a past candidate will run for Board of Education this April. Among the candidates vying for the three available three-year terms are board members Curtis L. Clark III and Thomas W. Biesiada, past candidate Donna Anonsen, and newcomers Ronald Batko and Maria Stratton. Sayreville Police Lt. Ronald Batko, 49, running for the first time, is married to current board member Phyllis Batko, who is also a former borough councilwoman. "I am a lifelong resident with two children in the public school system," Batko said. "One of the reasons that I am running is [because of] my dissatisfaction with the high school situation with its construction." The state Department of Community Affairs is investigating the $47 million high school renovation project after a former employee of the construction department and the board's chosen architect publicly voiced allegations against one another over the start of construction without a permit. Batko, a graduate of Sayreville's public school system, has been a lieutenant with the police force for seven years. He has been with the police department for 25 years, and has also been an adjunct professor at Middlesex County College for nine years. "I think that I can do a better job, quite frankly, than what is being done," Batko said. "I think that we have to effect change and strive to do better." Batko said he thinks residents are dissatisfied with the board's performance over a number of issues. "More people frown upon the Board of Education than are in favor of it," Batko said. Anonsen ran against Biesiada for a one-year unexpired term last year. Biesiada won the seat by a vote of 1,637 to 1,113. "I think there are a lot of issues facing the board right now," Anonsen said. "I don't think any one issue is the be-all, end-all answer to everything. My primary goal is to serve the students of Sayreville, whether I get a seat on the board or a seat in the audience." "I think that it is not a one-issue campaign this time," Anonsen said. "Anyone that runs on one issue is going to be out of the loop, because there are a lot of things going on." Biesiada, a 58-year-old, fourth-generation resident of the borough, ran unsuccessfully for a board seat in 2005 before winning the one-year term last year. He told the Suburban that he is running again to ensure that students have adequate supplies and technology in the classroom. "We have to maintain the [tax structure] system under a cap, so that people can afford to stay in Sayreville," Biesiada said, "yet provide the necessities of education for our students." Biesiada said that he is working with fellow board members to prepare a budget that will work for everyone in the community, adding that the board has proposed a preliminary budget increase of approximately $210 on a household assessed at the borough average of $143,100. Stratton, 43, told the Suburban that her background in education includes being the clinical coordinator and educator at Atlantic Health Systems of Summit. She added that she has been a member of the PTO for 12 years and is also president of the Sayreville Soccer Association. Stratton said she is a graduate of Penn State University and Sayreville War Memorial High School. She moved to the borough from Linden when she was 13 years old, she added. "I have three kids," Stratton said. "All three [of them are] in the school district, two in the high school and one at the SUES [Samsel Upper Elementary School]. "I am basically running to have an impact and bring a positive aspect to the Board of Education," Stratton said. "There are a lot of issues that everybody feels they can improve on." Stratton cited the controversy surrounding the lack of permits for the construction of the high school and courtesy busing as issues she is concerned about. Parents attended board meetings in great numbers last year to voice their dissatisfaction with the board's choice to put courtesy busing on the ballot as a separate question. The board has since taken a preliminary vote to keep the item on the budget so far this year. "I would reinstate it in the budget," Stratton said of courtesy busing. "It is difficult. Unfortunately, some people don't come out and vote, but for the safety of the kids, I would want it put back in. "There are so many streets in Sayreville where walking is a safety issue," Stratton added. Clark, 46, has four children currently attending Sayreville War Memorial High School. His daughter is a senior and his three sons, triplets, are freshmen. Now reaching the end of his fourth term with the board, Clark said he is looking forward to debating the issues with fellow candidates. "I really applaud anybody who steps up to run for the board or the council," Clark said. "It is what our country is based on and it is nice to see an interest. It is a demanding, thankless, but also very rewarding job. As long as you are in it for the kids, you are doing it for the right reasons." Board member Peter Barone, who has served for 11 years, decided not to run for another term in light of family and work commitments, Clark said. "I am really going to miss him," he said of Barone. "He is such a wonderful board member. When he spoke, it was with common sense and from the heart."