James Macomber and Tara Martinez will be two new faces to the Matawan Aberdeen Regional School District Board of Education, according to the initial results from the Monmouth County Clerk.
Official results will not be available until all electronic and absentee ballots have been counted. Residents have until Friday night to submit their electronic ballot, which was a measure implemented in New Jersey to ease the voting process for voters displaced by Hurricane Sandy.
James Macomber is a lifelong resident of Aberdeen who worked as a teacher in the district from 2002 to 2006 and as a basketball coach from 2001 to 2011. He currently works as a police officer for the Port Authority.
"I’ve been a part of this community for my entire life. I'm no longer coaching in the district or teaching, so I feel like this is something I could do to be part of the community and the education system," he told Patch, prior to the election.
Tara Martinez, a Cliffwood Beach resident since 1995, has two children at Matawan Aberdeen Middle School. She has been a member of the PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) for nine years, allowing her to actively volunteer in the schools.
As a board of education member, Martinez wants to fix what she feels is a disconnect between the community, the staff, and the administration.
"We used to be a nice, close-knit district where everybody worked together and we were kind of all in it for the same goal, for the kids. I feel like over these last ten years we’ve progressed to this point where everybody is working in different directions," she told Patch, prior to the election.
Candidate VotesPercentage
James Macomber 1,849 29.78% Tara Martinez 1,998 32.18% Kenneth Aitken 1,003 16.16% Elizabeth Hayward 12,81 20.62%
