Big win for OPEN is confirmed: Group is opposed to Onteora closings
by Nick Henderson for Hudson Valley One
Write-in candidate Caroline Jerome has been elected to the Onteora School Board, besting incumbent president Emily Sherry in a vote that brings in three new trustees after a recent board decision to close the Phoenicia and eventually the Woodstock elementary schools.
Jerome, who was not even a candidate until ten days before the election, bested incumbent president Emily at Sherry 958-889 in results certified May 18. A count of the 55 outstanding affidavit ballots kept Jerome solidly over the top.
Jerome was a third candidate added to the OPEN (Onteora Parents Engaged Now) slate. The other two, Emily Mitchell-Marell (1183 votes) and Clark Goodrich (1179), were seated May 16, filling the unexpired terms of Laurie Osmond and Bennet Ratcliff. They replace trustees David Wallis and Kristy Taylor.
Jerome, a Woodstock Library trustee, will begin her term July 1.