Groton — School board incumbent Chaz Zezulka is running for Board of Education as a petitioning candidate after not receiving the endorsement of the Republican Town Committee.

Zezulka was granted an application to petition by the Secretary of State’s office July 29. He needs 43 signatures from registered voters by 4 p.m. on Aug. 7 to appear on the ballot.

He said the party could have declined to endorse him for any number of reasons.

“I was disappointed at first, but then I thought maybe this is a blessing in disguise,” he said.

Zezulka is not a member of the Republican Town Committee and said he would run without a party designation and not trigger a primary. He said he’s running because he still believes public education is the “foundation of democracy.”

“I see some of that being undermined in Groton with people that have myopic vision,” he said. “They don’t see the big picture.”