Nazareth Area School Board president defeats college freshman for two-year seat

View full sizeLorin Bradley

The Nazareth Area School Board’s current president managed to hold onto his seat for another two years.

Lorin Bradley, 47, of Bushkill Township, defeated incumbent Jacob Allen, 19, of Bushkill Township, for the two-year term.

Allen and Bradley initially lost in the May primary election to incumbent Kenneth N. Butz Jr. and newcomer Chris Miller, who were both elected Tuesday.

However, board member John Marino resigned in June after moving out of Region 1, which includes Bushkill Township, Tatamy and a portion of west Palmer Township.

Allen was named by the county Democratic committee to run to fill Marino’s vacancy, and Bradley was nominated by Republicans.

Allen, a Northampton Community College freshman, was appointed by the school board as a temporary replacement for Marino. Allen was the only person to submit a letter of interest to the school board to seek Marino’s seat. He will serve until Nov. 30.

Bradley, a four-year school board member and father of seven working as director for U.S. Labor and Employee Relations for Merck, said he is grateful to voters for returning him to the board.

“I’m happy with the results. It’s definitely a lot better than the outcome of the primary,” he said. “I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues on the board for the next two years.”

Bradley said he looks forward to helping fellow board members in the search for the next schools superintendent. Victor Lesky, the district’s superintendent, announced he will retire in July. The board hopes to name his successor by December.

Allen had run on a platform of identifying unnecessary spending and cutting it. He plans to run again for a school board seat in 2013.

“I appreciate the opportunity to serve my community and wish Mr. Bradley luck in his upcoming term,” Allen said. “I will continue to attend public meetings and prepare myself for a future election bid in 2013.”

via lehighvalleylive.com

I hope after being rejected in the primary Bradley will be more conscientious of the broad base of constituents he represents. An improvement over Marino for certain, but this board faces big problems, and the replacement of Lesky is not one of them.

Posted via email from Ross Nunamaker