After a failed recall attempt to oust a South Jersey school board member, her seat is up for grabs again

When Kerri Tillett was targeted early this year in an attempt to oust her from the Northern Burlington County Regional school board, she vowed to fight for her position.

But then life had other plans, and a summer move with her family to North Carolina has left her seat on the nine-member board in question again.

Choosing between Tillett’s endorsement — a political newcomer and Northern Burlington alum — and Kelly Stobie, one of the three residents who spearheaded the recall attempt, the bitterly divided board could not agree on which candidate to succeed her.

Now, Burlington County Executive County Superintendent Raymond Marini is tasked with choosing between Adwoah Adomako and Stobie to serve as an interim board member until the November general election, when Stobie is on the ballot to complete the remaining year of the term and Adomako is running as a write-in candidate.

The sprawling rural district just south of Trenton has been in upheaval since Tillett was targeted in January in what the three petitioners once said would be the first of several efforts against the school board. None of the residents who filed the petition provided a reason for the recall.

Tillett, an attorney and an associate vice chancellor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, resigned in June from the seat representing Mansfield on the regional school board that also covers Chesterfield, North Hanover, Springfield Township, and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. In the meantime, the recall attempt against Tillett failed because the petitioners were unable to gather signatures from the required 25% of the town’s 7,662 registered voters.

In her resignation, Tillett wrote: “My time on the board has been, in a word, very challenging.”

“It was very eye-opening,” Tillett said in an interview. “It was a learning experience.”

Tillett threw her support behind Adomako, 23, a program manager for a nonprofit and a 2017 graduate. In a letter read at an Aug. 15 board meeting, Tillett wrote that Adomako was a “homegrown talent” who would bring a different perspective to the board as its youngest member.

Stobie, a science teacher in the Burlington County Special Services school district, and a mother of five, was also nominated for the seat at that Aug. 15 meeting. A letter writer described her as “a dedicated teacher and advocate for children.”

» READ MORE: A N.J. push to investigate health and education needs hidden within the term ‘Asian American’

After some debate by the board, Adomako got four votes, and Stobie two, neither receiving the five-vote majority required to fill a board vacancy. Two board members were absent.

Some board members argued Stobie should get the nomination because she is on the ballot in November to complete the unexpired term. (Adomako could not be certified for the ballot after election officials determined two signatures from her petition were from residents who were not registered voters.)

Adomako said she will run a write-in race and plans to host coffee chats and speak with students. There have been recent successful write-in campaigns to represent Mansfield, board members say.

“It just felt right to me to get involved, regardless of the controversy,” Adomako said.

Board member Radiah Gamble said she opposed Stobie’s nomination because Stobie was one of the petitioners who had threatened to next target Gamble, the only other Black member of the school board.

“It’s creating animosity,” said Gamble. “I really think we need to go back to what the focus should be, the students.”

» READ MORE: Pennsylvania Republicans want voters to be able to recall elected officials — but only in Philly

Stobie did not respond to messages seeking comment. She was nominated by board vice president Angela Reading, who said Stobie was “a logical candidate, regardless of the ballot.”

Board president Paul Narwid did not respond to email messages seeking comment.

It was unclear when Marini, who declined to comment, would decide who should fill the seat, but the board has said it hoped to swear in a new member this month at its Sept. 12 meeting. The executive county superintendent generally fills vacancies when the board fails to do so or voters don’t elect a member. School board elections in New Jersey are nonpartisan and candidates run under a slogan and not a party affiliation.