Director who voted to shut school falls in primary

By BERNIE HORNICK
THE TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT

ROCKWOOD May 20, 2009 12:58 am

— Rockwood School Board Director Dan Cramer, who voted to close Kingwood Elementary School, went down to defeat in Tuesday’s primary.
Cramer was running in Region 2 – which includes Milford Township and New Centerville – against Stacey Marie Renna and Mark Phillippi.
With the two precincts reporting, Phillippi locked up the nomination on both the Republican and the Democratic sides.
On the GOP, he had 93 votes to 84 for Cramer and 46 for Renna.
On the Democratic ticket, Phillippi had 35 votes to 30 for Cramer and 23 for Renna.
Renna had said in published reports that she was running specifically because the school board voted to close Kingwood.
Phillippi did not make that claim.
In Region 3, Director Dave Brant – who also voted to shut Kingwood – will be on the ballot in November along with challenger Richard Stoner. Region 3 includes Rockwood and Black Township.
Stoner won on the Republican side, 76 to 66. On the Democratic side with both precincts in, Brant won 48 to 37.
Stoner, a former school board member, said Tuesday that after some health problems he is feeling up to serving again.
He said his personal opinion was that “Kingwood would close itself,’’ though he didn’t expect that for another year or so.
“Now that it’s done; it’s done and things should move forward,’’ he said.
In Region 1, Directors Mark Lucas and Dave Cramer decided not to run for re-election. James Harrold and Clair Saylor were nominated uncontested for those spots in November’s election.
Two-thirds of the nine-member school board voted in February to close the elementary after this school year. The action was taken after the district was hit by a budget crisis. About three dozen Kingwood supporters have sued to keep the school open.