All 5 School Board Candidates Move on to November

All five candidates for three available at-large seats in the Bethlehem Area School Board have apparently moved on to the November election.

School Board President Michele T. Cann, the lone incumbent in the race, appears to have won both the Democratic and Republican nominations to keep her chair for the next four years, according to unofficial tallies.

With more than 90 percent of the district’s vote counted, Cann, a registered Democrat, was the top vote-getter on the Republican side. At the same time, she was running neck-and-neck with , a 20-year-old two-years removed from his Liberty High School graduation, on the Democratic side.

Bonilla and Sudantha Vidanage appear to have won Democratic nominations for at-large seats, while Kenneth Barreto and Randy Toman appear to have sewn up Republican nominations based on the latest totals available from the Northampton County and Lehigh County voter registration websites.

The totals currently posted are unofficial, however.

Those four, along with Cann, will likely compete for three at-large seats up for grabs on Nov. 8. Cann is also the Democratic nominee for Bethlehem Area School District Region 2, where she ran unopposed in the primary. In November, Republican Sam Mele, who also ran unopposed today, will challenge her.

There was no race in Region 3, where incumbent Eugene McKeon ran unopposed in both party primaries.

Barreto, Bonilla, Toman and Vidanage all won the nominations in the parties in which they are personally registered. Vidanage did not even bother to cross-file for the Republican nomination.