OUTGOING BOARD MEMBER DAUGHERTY WARNS OF ELECTING A "DESTRUCTIVE, NEGATIVE INFLUENCE"

We reported several weeks ago that School Board Member Beth Daugherty had decided not to run for re-election this coming fall.

She is among three board members up for re-election, the other two are Johanna Wright and Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad, both of who plan to run again.

But Daugherty only recently released a statement explaining why she plans not to run again, with a message urging voters to make sure they elect someone who is not a destructive, negative influence."

See it below:

It has been an honor and a privilege to serve on the Board of Education for 9 years - it will be 9 years and 8 months when my term is up at the end of 2016.  Now that my youngest has been out of the school system for a year, I think it's time to step down and support other candidates who have children in the schools and can bring that perspective to the Board.  
Serving on the BOE is hard but rewarding work and we are lucky to have Dr. Ramos at the helm for our district.  South Orange Maplewood is a wonderful school district, but there is definitely room for improvement.  I hope that as we move into election season in the fall, community members will pay attention to the tone set by each BOE candidate and consider whether that person will be a constructive, solution oriented member of the Board, or a destructive, negative influence.  
Thank you for the opportunity to serve this community.  I have enjoyed it and still have 6 months to go! 

The deadline to file for the November election is July 20.

So far, only Anthony Mazzocchi of Maplewood has filed to run.