Centofanti, Soisson, Boguszewski Earn BOE Seats

The district's $113 million budget was approved and voters elected Deena Centofanti, Lorraine Soisson and incumbent Dana Boguszewski to three-year terms on the in Tuesday's school elections.

The budget passed by a 1,163 to 641 margin, while Centofanti received 989 votes, Soisson garnered 909 and Boguszewski earned 862 for the three open BOE seats.

Comments from the candidates started to trickle in shortly after the results were released to the public. Soisson was quick to thank the voters who came out to support her and, perhaps more importantly, the budget, and vowed to continue to make the district a great place to be for all.

“I would first like to thank everybody who came out and supported my campaign and the budget. It passed, and I’m very happy about that,” Soisson said. “I’ve spent some time getting acquainted with the way things work. My priorities will remain to improve the quality of education wherever we can and support strategic goals we’ve outlined.”

Soisson also thanked current Board President Steve Paget and Vice President Marc Rosenberg, both of whom decided not to run for re-election following six years of service on the board, including the past three in their respective positions.

“I think they did a great job these past six years, and as president and vice president for the past three, by making sure the district kept moving in the right direction,” Soisson said. “I’m excited to work with the board over next three years to keep things moving in right direction and to try to help keep us on the path to make the district a premier district.”

Boguszewski was reached on Wednesday afternoon and was thrilled to have been reelected.

"It was really exciting. I’m really elated that the community voted for me. I think I’m really excited for all three of us," she said. "I think any of us would have been a good match for the community. I’m very excited to be nominated and have my seat again. I look forward to working with the students, teachers and community."

Chief among the important issues Boguszewski would like to address is class size within the district. The maximum class size in the district is currently 26, but Boguszewski would like to see that number reduced to 24.

"The smaller the teacher-student ratio, the better the learning environment," Boguszewski said.

Boguszewski also stated that she would like to see the continued improvement of communication district-wide between all involved parties, including students, teachers and parents.

"I had mentioned before that I'd like to make sure that everything is transparent throughout the district and that everyone is on the same page," Boguszewski said. "Communication is key in education."

Centofanti seemed to agree, pointing out her excitement to make solid decisions for the district alongside her new fellow board members.

"We’re all looking forward to working together to do what’s right and make educated decisions for the school district," she said.

Centofanti also pointed out that she would have been willing to work with any of her fellow candidates for the next three years, including Aldo Martinez and Allen Zdroik, who fell short in the election. Martinez picked up 836 votes and Zdroik received 656 votes.

"I'm sad that Allen and Aldo weren’t part of the group, but I’m sure they will stay involved and make contributions to the board and the kids at the same time," Centofanti said.

Martinez was gracious in defeat, offering congratulations to the winners and pledging to stay involved in township affairs.

“I congratulated Deena and Lorraine. They were at the Board of Education conference room (with me) when the results came in,” Martinez said. “I have not spoken to Dana, but I would love to congratulate her, as well. I wish them all the best and that they do a good job for the children of Hillsborough.”

“I always take a little time to think about these things, so we’ll see what happens,” he continued. “I certainly will stay involved in Hillsborough in one way or another.”

Zdroik offered similar sentiments when reached on Tuesday night.

“I plan to stay involved. I’m very good friends with Lorraine Soisson, so even though I didn’t get elected, I still have the ability to talk very closely to some of the people on the board that I’m close with,” he noted. “I wish them all the best of luck. I’m sure that they’ll do a great job for the district.”

A total of 1,846 Hillsborough and Millstone residents cast votes on Tuesday, or 7.13 percent of the 25,875 total registered voters in the two municipalities.

Patch will continue to update this story.