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Incumbents only candidates for Milton School Board

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Robert Cullen

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Michael Pierce

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Wilson Leong

MILTON — Next year's school board probably will look the same as this year's board.

But an experienced board is not necessarily a bad thing, especially with a new superintendent and a possible building project on the horizon, candidates said.

Three incumbents are running for three open spots this spring, and no challengers filed to run by Tuesday's deadline.

The incumbents are:

-- Bob Cullen, 48, of 242 Hilltop Drive, Milton.

-- Mike Pierce, 54, of 4108 E. Milton-Harmony Townline Road, Milton.

-- Wilson Leong, 58, of 5740 E. Eagle Drive, Milton.

The candidates fall across the spectrum when it comes to planning a new high school, something the board has discussed for two and a half years.

The board decided to put the project on hold to see how local job losses affect the district's enrollment. The district lost 25 students this year after growing by about 100 students a year in the three previous years.

Pierce said the district should think about scaling back the project, last estimated at $69.4 million for a new high school and $7.3 million to move the middle school into the existing high school.

"I think they need to keep fine tuning it to what they want to get, get the price down," he said. "There's way too much spending on the old high school."

Pierce suggested the board reexamine the idea of building a new middle school instead. He was the only member who didn't support building a new high school when the board voted on it in August 2007.

Leong, on the other hand, said he's eager to move forward with plans for a new high school. He spoke enthusiastically about pushing ahead with the project when the board decided in August to delay it.

"I was a little more adamant about maybe just looking forward to doing something rather than just marking time," he said.

Even if the board has to scale back its plans, it still has to do something soon to address aging and overcrowded facilities, he said.

"I feel it's part of my responsibility to continue advocating and promoting what's good in Milton," he said. "Our district is very progressive in doing what's necessary to provide a good education to our kids."

Cullen falls somewhere in the middle. The board has to see what happens to enrollment in the next year before making decisions, he said.

"We have to continue planning for our future, but I do think we have to take a bit of a wait-and-see attitude," he said.

The board members' differences are good for the district, Leong said.

"We're all elected because we're a cross-section of what our electorate, theoretically, represents," he said.