Incumbents swept from school board

May 15, 2002|BY DAVE McMILLION

charlestown@herald-mail.com

Jefferson County voters made sweeping changes on the Jefferson County Board of Education by electing three new members to the board in Tuesday's primary election.

With all of the 29 precincts reporting, Lori Stilley was the top vote-getter with 2,538 votes, according to unofficial returns.

Delores Milstead followed with 2,518 votes, and Cheryl Huff secured the third and final open seat with 2,028 votes, according to returns.

Incumbent Pete Dougherty was fourth with 1,553 votes, board president Larry Togans followed with 1,224 votes and board member Peter Morgens had 1,178 votes, according to returns.

Kathryn Conant had 824 votes.

Candidates seeking to unseat incumbent board members said change was needed in the county school system because of overcrowding in schools, outdated facilities, little confidence in the board among teachers and a low college-going rate among high school seniors.

"It's an endorsement by the voters for change. And I will be delighted to work with the other two," Milstead said as the final vote totals came in at the Jefferson County Courthouse Tuesday night.

"I'm very grateful to all the voters in the county and I'm very excited about getting on that board," said Stilley, who has been a close observer of the board in recent years.

The election could have been a confusing contest. Because only two board members can be from any one of the district seats, one of the top vote-getters could have been bumped from the contest in the race for the Charles Town and Kabletown district seats.

That is because current board member Doris Cline already holds one of the Charles Town seats and board member Paul Manzuk holds the other Kabletown seat.

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