East Ramapo held a trustee vote in February, the result of a federal civil rights case brought by the local NAACP. The suit asserted the district s standard voting method disenfranchised Black and brown families who send about 9,000 children to the public schools and favored the white Orthodox Jewish community that sends about 30,000 children to private yeshivas.
A federal judge agreed, and a new ward voting system was installed that allowed voters to choose local representatives to the nine-member board, rather than the using standard at large voting method.
Both districts are on the cusp of new leadership.
East Ramapo has been led this year by interim Superintendent Raymond Giamartino, appointed after Deborah Wortham left in June after five years. The board on April 13 announced the appointment of Clarence Ellis, a New York City schools administrator, to the top post. Ellis begins in July.
Brandon Short, Steven Wagman, and Alvin de Levie have officially been elected as alumni trustees. They’ll begin new three-year terms on Penn State’s Board of Trustees starting July 1.
The three respectively received 14,299, 9,730, and 9,688 votes from their fellow alumni en route to their elections. They topped fellow candidates Jim Bognet, Bridget Lasda, and incumbent Laurie Stanell.
Short
won re-election after first joining the Board of Trustees in July 2018. You probably know him as a former All-American Penn State linebacker who went on to play in the NFL, too. Off the gridiron, he’s amassed nearly 10 years of experience in real estate investment banking and investment management. Short previously worked for Goldman Sachs, among other firms.
Penn State s Board of Trustees elected or appointed six incumbent trustees and five new members during its meeting Friday.
Alvin de Levie and Steven Wagman were elected by university alumni as alumni trustees, and incumbent Brandon Short was reelected.
In the alumni election, the distribution of votes per candidate was as follows:
Steven B. Wagman â 9,730
Alvin F. de Levie â 9,688
Bridget M. Lasda â 8,171
Jim Bognet â 7,016
Laurie A. Stanell â 9,634
Brandon Short â 14,299
Additionally, Donald Cairns was elected and incumbent Chris Hoffman was reelected by the delegates of agricultural societies, Robert Fenza and Mary Lee Schneider were reelected as trustees representing business and industry, Julie Anna Potts was reelected as an at-large trustee and Nicholas Rowland was elected as the boardâs academic trustee.
Board of Trustees election results announced
Six incumbent trustees and five new members were elected or appointed to serve on the Penn State Board of Trustees on May 7.Image: Patrick Mansell
Board of Trustees election results announced
May 07, 2021
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Six incumbent trustees and five new members were elected or appointed to serve on the Penn State Board of Trustees today (May 7).
University alumni elected Alvin de Levie and Steve Wagman as alumni trustees, and re-elected incumbent Brandon Short. Delegates of agricultural societies elected Donald Cairns and re-elected incumbent Chris Hoffman.
Robert Fenza and Mary Lee Schneider were re-elected as trustees representing business and industry. Julie Anna Potts was re-elected as an at-large trustee, while Nicholas Rowland was elected as the board’s academic trustee.
Penn State announces results of elections for alumni-, ag-selected trustees
Updated May 07, 2021;
Posted May 07, 2021
Old Main on the campus of Penn State University on Aug. 11, 2020.
Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com
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One incumbent trustee was defeated in what was one of the closest vote counts in recent years.
The top vote-getter in this year’s election, run from April 10 through May 6, was former Penn State football star Brandon Short, who was first elected to the board in 2018. Short, who graduated from Penn State in 1999, played for 7 years in the NFL and is now a principal in a London-based real estate private equity firm, received 14,299 votes.