Four candidates will vie for three seats on the Ocean City Board of Education in the general election in November.
The deadline for submitting nominating petitions passed at 4 p.m. Monday (July 28) and the following candidates will be on the ballot in November, according to the Cape May County Clerk’s Office:
- Dale F. Braun Jr.
- Joseph S. Clark Jr.
- Cecelia Gallelli-Keyes
- Michael Allan James
Clark and Gallelli-Keyes are incumbents seeking re-election. The other vacant seat is currently held by Tiffany Prettyman, who will not run in November.
Clark, the current board president, is seeking his third term on the board. He is the city’s purchasing manager.
Gallelli-Keyes, a former president of the Ocean City Parent Teacher Association, was appointed to the board in December to complete the final year of Greg Donahue’s term. This will be her first election.
Dale Braun is a retired bank controller and district parent who ran unsuccessfully for the board in November 2013 and was interviewed last week for a board appointment that went to Gregory Whelan.
James, a wealth management professional, has children in all three schools in Ocean City. He grew up in Stone Harbor but moved to Ocean City two years ago for the schools, he said.
The school board includes nine members from Ocean City, who are elected to three-year terms in staggered years, and three members from Upper Township, who are appointed to one-year terms.
Traditionally held in the spring, school elections moved to November in Ocean City in 2012. The ballot will include Congressional and Cape May County candidates, as well as school board candidates.
