Correction Oct. 30, 2009 — The party affiliations of Eastern Lancaster County school board candidates Alexander Sitar and Michael C. Upton were incorrect in the article below. Sitar is a Republican, and Upton is an Independent. Both are listed as Democrats on the general election ballot because they won the party's nomination in the primary.

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Incumbent Rick Kerper is dropping out of the race for Manheim Township school board, but he may get elected anyway.

Kerper is listed on the ballot along with two other incumbents and four challengers in the race for four seats on the board.

The Manheim Township contest is one of five contested school board races in Lancaster County.

Kerper, a Democrat elected in 2005, is withdrawing for "family reasons," he said in an e-mail sent to the newspaper last week.

Because the deadline for formally withdrawing from the general election was Aug. 10, Kerper's name will remain on the ballot.

If he is one of the top four vote-getters, Kerper would be re-elected and would have to resign from the board, he said.

If that happened, the board would appoint someone to replace him. The new member would serve a two-year, rather than a four-year, term.

Kerper said he "fairly recently" decided to end his campaign when he realized he won't be able to devote enough time to serving a second term on the board.

He declined to discuss the family issues involved in his decision.

Kerper is backing the two other incumbents, Beth Ross and board president Hannah Bartges.

Bartges, who won both the Democratic and Republican nominations in the primary, has served on the board since 2001.

She is a garden consultant and instructor who has taught gardening classes in district schools.

Ross, a Democrat, joined the board in 2005.

She owns ECW Marketing Group, a manufacturers' representative that supplies materials and services to the plastics industry.

The other candidates are Republicans Thomas Winters, Barbara Carr and Lynn M. Miller and Democrat Bob Ruder.

Winters is retired from the state Department of Education, where he worked 24 years in various positions, including acting secretary, deputy secretary for administration and assistant bureau director.

Carr is a retired elementary school teacher who also served as a reading specialist and reading supervisor for the district.

Miller works for the Republican Committee of Lancaster County.

Ruder is a retired educator who served as principal at schools in Manheim Township and School District of Lancaster.

Friends of Township Schools, a nonpartisan political action committee, has endorsed Ross, Bartges, Winters and Carr.

Carr, Winters, Miller and Bartges also have the backing of the Manheim Township Republican Committee.

The township Democratic Club has endorsed Ruder and Ross.

The six candidates are seeking positions on a school board that has faced relatively few controversial issues in the past year.

Initial public resistance to a $22.5 million expansion of Bucher Elementary School has faded, and a proposal to build a new school for grades five and six has generated little pushback from the public.

The Bucher project is under way; the 5-6 school, which would cost an estimated $40 million, is proposed to be built in about three years on land behind the high school.

Board members also are supporting the implementation of a new International Baccalaureate curriculum at the high school and a move toward a districtwide full-day kindergarten program.

Another issue the district has tackled in recent months is drug and alcohol abuse by students.

A panel of residents and district administrators is studying disciplinary data, arrest records and pupil surveys to determine the extent of student drug and alcohol use.

Early next year, the panel intends to recommend ways to curtail substance abuse through education and counseling programs and, possibly, a random high school drug-testing program.

Kerper said he intends to serve out his current term, which ends in December.

If he gets re-elected and must resign, it would be the second time in six years a Manheim Township school board member who was elected chose not to serve.

In fall 2003, Andrew Loose's name remained on the ballot after he moved out of the district, and he was re-elected.

Loose resigned, and the board appointed Sam Dodson to replace him.

• In addition to Manheim Township, the other contested school board races are in Cocalico, Warwick, Ephrata and Eastern Lancaster County school districts.

Here's who's running:

Cocalico

Republican incumbents John Lorah, Douglas Graybill, Michael Messner and Steven Richardson are running against Democrat Leo Noble for four open seats.

Warwick

Six of nine seats are on the ballot.

Three incumbents and two challengers are running for four four-year seats, and three non-incumbents, including one write-in candidate, are vying for two two-year seats.

The incumbents seeking a four-year seat include Democrat Jay Hostetter and Republicans Michael R. Landis and Timothy Quinn. The challengers, also Republicans, are Millard Eppig Jr. and Debra J. Wenger.

Vying for the two-year seats are Republicans Jeff Conrad and Todd Rucci and write-in Gary Schreckengost, a Democrat.

Elanco

Eight candidates, split between the two major parties, are vying for four seats.

The lone incumbent is Democrat Alexander Sitar.

The challengers include Democrats Michael C. Upton, Janet L. Getz and Kelci deVyver Robbins.

The Republicans are Heidi L. Zimmerman, Jennifer Zeiset, Jonathan Boyd and Paul W. Irvin.

Ephrata

Four incumbents are seeking to retain their seats in a race that includes two challengers.

The incumbents are Robert Miller and Timothy W. Stayer, who won both the Democratic and Republican nominations, and Republicans Glenn R. Martin and Jennifer Miller.

They're running against Democrat Timothy L. Craven and Independent Kenneth C. Brenneman, who also is running for Ephrata mayor and borough council.

According to state law, Brenneman could serve in only one elected post.

bwallace@lnpnews.com