Melissa Gilbert Will Not Seek 4th Term On Lower Merion School Board
Melissa Gilbert, former Lower Merion School Board president and current vice president, will not seek a fourth term in the 2021 election.
Gilbert’s name was conspicuously absent from a list of School Board Candidates who are seeking the endorsement by the Democratic Committee of Lower Merion Narberth (DCLMN).
This morning, That list was posted on the Facebook Page of the Lower Merion Narberth Democratic Forum. Laurie Actman is the only school board member who will be seeking re-election this year.
School Board members Ben Driscoll and Debra Finger, whose terms will also come to an end this year, do not appear to be seeking re-election.
Left to right – Laurie Actman, Debra Finger, Ben Driscoll, Melissa Gilbert
Gilbert first ran for School Board in 2009. In the primary that year, she and fellow Democrat, Lynn Kugel, won the Democratic Primary. They also cross-filed and won the Republican Primary. At the same time, Republicans Gary Friedlander and Jerry Novick, also crossfiled, and won the Democratic and Republican Primaries. All four of them, obviously, were elected in the general election.
In 2013, Gilbert, Driscoll, Actman and Maureen O’Leary; all won both the Democratic and Republican Primaries, and ran unopposed in the general election.
In 2017 Gilbert, Driscoll, Actman and Finger, with the endorsement of the DCLMN, overwhelmed an “opposition slate” in the primary, and easily defeated a slate of four Republicans in the general election.