Voters returned incumbent school board members Michele Bowes and Arundel Clarke and elected newcomer Mark Elliott to the Lawrence Township Public Schools Board of Education in the Nov. 3 general election.
Bowes was the top vote-getter with 8,864 votes, followed by Elliott, who earned 8,827 votes. Clarke received 8,728 votes, according to unofficial vote tallies released by the Mercer County Clerk’s Office. There were 478 write-in votes.
The three candidates ran unopposed for election to the school board. The term is for three years.
Bowes will begin her fifth term when the school board reorganizes in January. Clarke will begin his second full term on the school board. He was appointed to an unexpired term in 2021. Elliott is a newcomer.
Bowes is the board president and chairman of the Negotiations Committee. She also serves on the Curriculum Instruction Assessment and Development Committee and the Finance Committee.
She said she sought reelection so she could continue to the work of seeing the district’s grade reconfiguration through to completion for the 2029-2030 school year. The four elementary schools will become grades pre-K to grade 2 schools, and the Lawrence Intermediate School will become a grades 3-5 school. The Lawrence Middle School will become a grades 6-8 school. Lawrence High School will remain a grades 9-12 school.
Clarke serves on the Personnel and Negotiations committees, and is the liaison to Student Services.
Clarke said he sought another term because he wants to see through the $98 million bond referendum to completion. Voters approved the bond referendum to pay for renovations and expansions to the middle school, as well as other improvements. He said he has interacted with people from all walks of life, and he would like to continue his growth in the district.
Elliott said the quality of the schools is the reason that he ran for a seat on the board. When a community’s school district increases the quality of education for all students, the community benefits. Higher quality schools attract more families into the community. Schools are the heart of every community and are essential for every community member’s future social and economic benefit, he said.
The vote tallies are unofficial until the Mercer County Clerk certifies them later this month. The vote tallies include early voting, some vote-by-mail ballots and Election Day voting.
Vote-by-mail ballots that were received after 8 p.m. Nov. 3 and provisional ballots had not been tallied as of Nov. 4.
