Lawrence school board remains unchanged in 2018

LAWRENCE >> Voters wanted no change on the Lawrence school board.

Tuesday’s election saw incumbent school board members Jo Ann Groeger, Kevin Van Hise and Joyce Scott win re-election, and appointed school board member Dana Drake rightfully won election to her seat.

Groeger emerged as the top-vote-getter with 5,080 votes, Van Hise received 4,432 votes and Scott emerged victorious with 2,844, according to unofficial ballot counts reported by the Mercer County Clerk’s Office.

Drake won a special election to serve for the remainder of former school board member Jose “Max” Ramos’ three-year term that expires in January 2021. She received 4,583 votes, easily defeating challenger Becky Jo DiPierro, who received 2,227 votes, according to the unofficial ballot count.

Scott ran on a slate with candidates Tam Ngo and Keva Stewart under the slogan “Integrity, honesty, experience,” but Ngo and Stewart fell short of victory.

Groeger, Van Hise and Drake ran on a slate under the slogan “Experienced, productive, transparent.”

Groeger, Van Hise and Scott won re-election to a full three-year term. Groeger first became a school board member in summer 2011; Van Hise first became a school board member in April 2011; Scott first got elected to the school board in 2015; Drake first won election to the Lawrence school board in 2013, won re-election as the topvote-getter in the 2014 election, lost reelection in 2017 and was reappointed back into the school board earlier this year after Ramos resigned for personal reasons.

There were 12 candidates who initially filled out paperwork seeking to run for Lawrence school board this year, but several of them dropped out of the race when it came down to crunch time.