Wow way to insult the voters of Parsippany,
It couldnt be that a change was wanted and needed, it has to be that people chose Dr.Calabria and assumed the next two slots were his running mates.
These are the ego's we can do without "For the Kids" I mean

It's disappointing that the non-partisan BOE elections have been moved to coincide with the political elections. I couldn't believe when I was meeting one of the candidates they introduced themselves as a Republican. I realize there is a cost savings in not holding 2 elections per year, but we miss out on approval of the budget, and put politics into the process. There should also be a way to present it on the ballot where it doesn't line up under any one party.

Yes Monica maybe its about the signs and maybe it was a misleading ballot form or maybe just possibly it was change.
to quote Meatloaf "Two out of three aint Bad"

"Suburbanites" - With all due respect, you truly believe that every voter does their due diligence? Really?
I didn't imply that the ballot was confusing (or misleading), Scott Dean did. I was merely pointing out to Scott that, based on the signs alone, you knew who was running with whom and if you were voting for "change", the choices were pretty clear. And while Joanne may be well known to many in Parsippany, there are others that thought she was related to Anthony Mancuso. Given the present climate, that would not have worked in her favor. I know Joanne. I've been attending board meetings since she sat on the board many years ago. I can only hope that she will bring her same brand of independent thinking to this board. "Independent" being the operative word.

Monica I am just making the point that there has been plenty to raise questions about with the current board as a whole.The people have spoken and I would like to believe unlike you seem to that your Parsippany neigbors are choosing what they believe could end the infighting and truly focus on the kids not helping out there pals.

Monica, obviously not every single voter did due diligence especially this week when most of us were literally in the dark. What I'm suggesting is that assuming voters didn't know what they were doing when they voted is wrong and condescending. Your post concludes that this election was contaminated by a confused populace to quote you "I was a Parsippany voter and I'm not at all insulted by the comment. How else would you explain it?" You then bloviate about how if people were voting for "change" they would have voted for DeIntinis; um, generalize much? I’d love to know more about the political science analysis you used here? The vast majority of voters knew what they were doing and were not affected by the format of the ballot; rather they made their voices heard loud and clear. Neglia was doomed when he supported Seitz's salary increase that was his choice if he did it in good conscious I applaud him. However, it likely cost him the election.

Monica as usual you are going to far lengths to argue with one simple opinion that I took from article.Maybe you can shift over to the council article to disprove the reent posts.
Sorry for sharing

*recent

Wow, I was already embarrassed by the way Parsippany votes for its local leaders. We usually pick the people with the most or biggest lawn signs. Now we're too lazy to even do that! Sure, just pick the top 3 on the ballot, forget about issues or positions or finding out who the candidates are with a 5-minute Google search. If you don't know anything about it, then just don't put anything down on the ballot! I don't even think you HAVE to pick three, you can just vote for one or two or none if you don't know who any of the people are and have not paid attention.

Monica, I read the statements from Dr.Calabria as this that the reason for the results was the positioning of names on the ballot.I do believe with all the recent controversy with the BOE that was insulting to even think such a thing.That is where the ego comment comes in lol.to coin a popular catch phrase of Parsippany officials . "We can agree to disagree" that as well as the sharing is sarcasm.

All the candidates placed in the same position as they were on the ballot. Strumolo got his people in so now he could try to control the Board of Education. Talk about crooked politics. The money spent on Parsippany's BOE elections is ridiculous. It's an UNPAID volunteer position. That makes us all wonder why they wanted these positions so bad. Do they have the children as their first priority? I think not.

Whatever people. More importantly is there school tomorrow and what is with the lack of communication for tonight?

Congrats to the elected, as a concerned citizen I would ask that you consider two things among your priorities.

First, make a choice to remove the grandfather clause for the 10 or 11 out of district students. What reason is there for the taxpayers to cover this roughly $100,000 extra in cost of attendance? If their families wish to pay, then allow it, otherwise please change this decision. We have plenty of other things that money can be used for.

Second, figure out why PHS is performing so much poorly that PHHS and fix it! It is not fair to the students, will lower our property values, and is divisive for the community.

Thank you in advance for your service and consideration.

Citizen Jane

May I offer a simple solution to your second issue? Remove the inefficient, pompous and inexperienced administrators. They are political appointees with not leadership skills of any sort. On the contrary. They are the laughing stock of our school community. Change is good and needed in this case.
Good luck to the newly elected members. May your leadership and vision and wisdom bring much needed support to our students.

This is why it wasn't a good idea for the election to be moved in the first place because of stuff like this. The board made the decision to change it. Also Nancy you never know what bright ideas somebody might bring to the table so to say they're not thinking about the kids when they haven't even stepped into a seat yet isn't fair. I'm not going to lie I thought that Joanne Mancuso was related to Anthony so that effected my voting but we can't convict these new board members of wrong doing until they've taken their actual oath.

Thank you steve, if the public remembers I took a big stand not to change the voting date. Was I right or wrong? The public told me that night, I was wrong. About the kids, I ALWAYS try to think of the parents first because they put their trust in me, when they vote. When I was in the U.S. Navy, I learned that its God, Country and the people. I live by this everyday and it never let me down. As the World War Two vets. die off I see that my way of life is coming to an end. Its new times and I know that I can not change . I hope everyday that the kids have a great future because I love this country. Mr. Revette thank you again for your commit of the election date because now I feel I did not make a very big mistake.

Gary I agreed with you on that night and still agree with you today. A majority of Parsippany agrees with you on that too. You're doing an excellent job as a board member.

Dear "Sick"
Sorry we are in disagreement. If you look at all of my posts you will see that I am usually responding to someone who I believe to be unfair or dishonest in their comments. Additionally, I sign my name to all of my comments and generally refrain from responding back to those who don't. I am not a fan of the current majority on the Parsippany BOE. That is no secret. Nancy IS a fan of the current majority. That is her prerogative. I only respond when I am concerned that the people of Parsippany who are not as well informed as they might be could be led astray by partisan accusations. I am partisan too...for change and openness. Based upon the recent election, the people of Parsippany seem to have recognized that the current BOE needs new leadership. Dr. Calabria remained, but Frank Neglia, Andy Choffo (last year) and Debbie Orme are now gone. Perhaps all the current members will get together and work toward openness and good business decisions on behalf of the students and the taxpayers. I hope so. If not, look for more change next year and for years to come, I believe. The people of Parsippany are no longer asleep at the switch thanks to Parsippany Patch and Parsippany Life.

Please dont insult Parsippany residents by saying the ballot was confusing. It's not rocket science. Clearly people didnt like the the members of the BOE. so if some only voted for the top 3 not knowing anything about anyone else, they must have really been unhappy!!However, people do not take elections lightly, so you shouldnt assume that people just went down the line just because you people did not get your way. The BOE situation was embarrassing w/the Seitz contract. Neglia didn't get elected because of his part in that. this is a good change for the town. I didnt even vote for 3 people. i voted for the 2 i wanted and the rest i left up to everyone else. So don't insult us by saying we are confused a ballot. We are not idiots.

Nancy
Mr. Strumolo has one child in the Parsippany schools and you have two. Does that make Strumolo's interest less honorable than yours/Andy's?
I actually do not only side with "the Strumolo party". What I do side with is NOT the current majority. My reason is that I have seen years of unfair and dishonest practices from this majority group which has our BOE in it's claws. I have not seen much openness not integrity in the currents majority's positions over the years that I have attended meetings. The Seitz contract was a clear case of Board majority malfeasance which has cost the taxpayers of Parsippany lots of education time and money, much confusion and loss of taxpayer respect. The opaque handling of the sports fields effort was more of this behavior. The inaction of the BOE leadership to provide requested back-up documents for transportation bills for many, many months so that the Transportation Committee could sign off on the payments is yet more of the same. How long would you like me to go on?
I am sorry you feel strongly about my identifying Andy's involvement in the BOE actions. Why are you so upset when I am only responding to your unkind and unfair pummeling of Crawford (in the past) and Strumolo today. You feel your pain, but have no empathy for others who may feel that they are doing the right thing. That is amazing to me. I am sorry you are without power. I wish you no harm. I would only ask for fairness to others.

Dr Calabria - so basically you're saying that the only reason you got re-elected is because your name appeared in one of the first three positions on the ballot?

Sounds like a reasonable explanation to me.

Hate to get snickery but maybe we collect all of the signs from elections and light them up for a Friday night game next year.Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Also regarding the number conspieracy? Figure out this word problem
If Dr.Calabris's theory is correct why did
Mr Carifi have 1,000 more votes then # 2 as well as close to 2500 more votes than #3 on the ballot
And how much wood can a wood chuck wood ?

Scott

Isn't it how much wood can a wood chuck chuck? (If, of course, a wood chuck could chuck wood - which is a whole another Patch discussion for a later time)

Hank you have your opinion and I have mine. We will never agree when it comes to the BOE. Keep blaming the old Board members not the ones that have been there since last years election. You sound like an Obama supporter. Since he has been on the board, what budgets did Mike Strumolo vote for? Is he tryimg to help get the teachers contract settled after over 2 years? How about the fields? Why does it seem that he is never really prepared for the meetings? Doesn't he spend hours in committee meetings and at home reading all the material? When you take a position like being a BOE member you do answer to the people. Andy being voted off was one answer. Eventually Strumolo and his friends will take that same path not becasue they tried their very best but because of their failures. It's going to be a long four years and all of America is going to be paying for the 50% that took the left turn all the way to the ballot box. Parsippany's BOE problems are the least of your worries. Have a good night. Stay warm.

Nancy
I suspect you are right about of our opinions. I blame most of the old BOE members and quite a few of the current ones for their bad decisions and hidden agendas in trying to get done what THEY want, instead of what is good for the students and the community. If they were interested in finding good ways out of it's challenges, the majority members would have operated in openness and decency. Instead, they withheld information, made sure that only the "chosen" ones knew what was going on and were and are disrespectful to those who do not knuckle under to them.
I believe that Mr. Strumolo has brought lots of good thinking to this BOE, regardless of the fact that you and others do your best to disparage him. Just as you and the "gang" have worked hard to make Bob Crawford look like a bad guy. I find both to be two of the best people we have had serving Parsippany.
Since the BOE leadership only allows the "in crowd" to participate in meaningful ways on the important committees, I do not know what Strumolo has done to resolve the teachers contract for the past 2 years. I'll bet he was not allowed on that committee. And the "fields"? You have got to be kidding! Were you in favor of giving away the control of the fields in perpetuity? And having Mancuso and Neglia meeting in secret with other groups while keeping the rest of the BOE in the dark. That's the way your majority works here.
I'm proud to say I voted. I wish you a good and comfortable night too.

Congratulations to all the new BOE members. Let's hope we now have a balanced group that is not clicky and feel like they will do what they want regardless of what the people of Parsippany want. Now lets get moving with the improvement of the Parsippany school system and helping the children of this town. I want to apologize to Ms Mancuso, I thought she was related to Anthony Mancuso too. At least now I feel better.

No, the people spoke, now try something new, LISTEN! It would be a first for the out going board. Take your heads out of you know where and move on.

so when is the captain gonna get in the bentley and pick up the signs. Voting over three days almost and most are still out there.

I for one believe that we shouldn't have "career BOE members." Discuss amongst yourselves.

Ok the election is over, its time to move on and get to work. Congratulations to James Carifi, Frank Calabria, and Joanne Mancuso on your victories. Also congratulations to Jonathan Nelson on your victory. Now lets move forward, stop pointing fingers and do what's right for the people of Parsippany. Council President Brian Stanton