"I figured, 'Well, let me start out with a year, and if I enjoy it, I'll go on,' " said Corson.
Helene Pietrangelo, also running for the first time, is 32, a homemaker and has lived in Mantua for five years. She has a daughter in first grade.
"I feel that with a child in the school system, I wanted to become more involved," Pietrangelo said. "I wasn't sure I was qualified, but I talked to people and they said, 'Do you care about the kids?' I said, 'Yeah,' and they said, 'That's the only qualification that you need.' "
The two other candidates, Mary H. Fay and Joseph E. Sullivan, could not be reached for comment.
Of the incumbents running for re-election, Anderson has served for the longest time, 12 years. Anderson, 31, is a lead planner at Struthers-Dunn Inc. of Pitman. He has lived in Mantua for 20 years.
"I honestly believe all of us have a responsibility to be active and involved in the community where you live and work," said Anderson, who has been president for one year.
Tice, 54, is a senior secretary at Mobil Research in Paulsboro. She has been on the board for 10 years, and she has two children who have gone through the K-6 school district. Gilbert, also 54, has been on the board for three years, and he has lived in Mantua since 1976. Gilbert, a plant manager at Gloucester County College, has one child in the school district.
Voters will be asked to approve a current expense budget of $7.1 million, up from $6.99 million in 1991. The capital outlay is $48,871. If approved, the tax rate will increase from $1.02 per $100 of assessed property value to $1.07.
