Ramapo Indian Hills board president is not seeking reelection
OAKLAND — Ramapo Indian Hills board President Judith Sullivan is not among six candidates who filed by Monday’s deadline to run for one of three open seats on its Board of Education in November.
Sullivan’s term, as well as that of fellow Oakland trustee Vivian Yudin King, will expire in December. The two have been part of opposing board factions, and there was speculation they would seek new terms with running mates, forcing residents to pick sides.
Instead, King will be seeking her second term with running mate Amy Eilert under the “United for Students” slogan, while Oakland newcomers Melissa Kiel and Audrey Lynn Souders have filed to run separately for the same two seats.
In a separate race, Wyckoff trustee Brian DeLaite has filed to run for a new three-year term on the board against newcomer Jared A Geist.
There is no fall contest among Franklin Lakes members. The two-high-school board serves residents from Franklin Lakes, Oakland and Wyckoff. Wyckoff has four members on the high school board, Oakland three members and Franklin Lakes two.
At stake is the board’s five-member parents’ rights majority.
Last year’s race saw the election of parents’ rights candidates Kim Ansh in Franklin Lakes and Tom Bogdansky and Doreen Mariani in Wyckoff. Joined by Wyckoff incumbent Marianna Emmolo, the group elected Sullivan president, and together they have made sweeping changes to the district over seven months, beginning with the firing of the board’s 20-year general counsel at the reorganization meeting in January.
A four-vote minority of King, DeLaite, Aaron Lorenz and Hele Koulikourdis has opposed those changes.
The candidates have not issued statements to The Record about where they stand on the issues. The board is scheduled to vote on curriculum-related topics at its Aug. 28 meeting.
“My long-time domestic partner and father of my child suffered a massive stroke and I am in need of being home to tend to his medical needs after a care plan I had been working on for months to discharge him to a Veterans Administration facility has not worked out,” Sullivan said in an email statement. “I am not certain how this will progress, but at this time, I must turn my attention to his medical needs.”