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Collier school board candidate for District 2 drops out of race
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In what could be one of Collier County’s shortest campaigns, Mark Albanese dropped out of the race for the District 2 School Board seat Tuesday.
Albanese, who is a dean at the Marco Island Charter Middle School, said he decided to end his campaign after deciding he wouldn’t be able to devote himself 100 percent to the job.
“I am a 100-percent kind of guy,” he said. “I didn’t think it was fair to ask someone to vote for me if I couldn’t commit myself fully to the job.”
Albanese was running against incumbent Kathleen Curatolo and Rick MacCluggage, a 1981 graduate of Barron Collier High School who owned Courtesy Automotive for 20 years.
District 2 encompasses northwest Collier County.
Albanese, who filed his papers to run for the District 2 seat on Friday, will lose his $1,449.12 filing fee, which isn’t refundable after the June 20 deadline, according to the Collier County Supervisor of Elections Office.
Albanese said he received permission from Marco Island Charter Middle School leader George Abounader and the majority of School Board members about keeping his job, but he didn’t want the board or his job to suffer as a result of his election.
“I believe I could have won, but I wouldn’t be able to devote my full attention to it,” he said.
Albanese said he is going to continue to focus on his work at the school, where he has worked for five years.
Albanese had run for the District 2 School Board seat once before, during a special election in 2002. The election was held to replace Nelson Faerber. Curatolo won the election after placing first in the primary. Albanese placed fifth among eight candidates in the primary.

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