JoAnne Harmon was selected as president, with Sandy Student selected as vice president.
Evesham’s new Board of Education was officially seated for 2017 with the board’s annual reorganization meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 3.
Newly elected members Dennis Mehigan and William McGoey were sworn in along with re-elected members Trish Everhart and Nichole Stone.
The board selected JoAnne Harmon to lead the board as president, with Sandy Student by her side as vice president.
Mayor Randy Brown was on hand to administer the oath of office to Mehigan, McGoey and Stone, with BOE solicitor William Donio swearing in Everhart.
Those were the major developments out of the board’s largely attended reorganization meeting, which was moved from its original location at the district administration building to the larger DeMasi Middle School.
However, residents will have to keep waiting until at least the next board meeting for any new developments related to some of the more contentious issues of the 2016 election, as the board did not use the meeting to discuss the scheduled closure of Evans Elementary School or the future of enrollment and class sizes.
However, the night was not without debate. While the board easily selected Harmon as president without objection, the board’s selection of Student as vice president was not as simple.
The nomination for vice president came down to a choice between Student and board member Elaine Barbagiovanni, who nominated herself, and it was then that Everhart spoke for several minutes against choosing Student.
Specifically, Everhart cited ethic complaints that had been filed against Student in 2009 that eventually led to a censure by the state school ethics commission, which said Student had attempted to get “unwarranted privilege or advantage” for TD Bank in regard to its bid for the district’s banking services.
Everhart urged the board to elect someone to sit next to Harmon who would unify the board and the district.
“She (Harmon) needs to sit next to someone who’s going to walk that walk with her and respect the job, and I just don’t feel Mr. Student is the right candidate for that job,” Everhart said to a large applause from the crowd.
When it came time to vote for vice president, the board wrote their selections on paper ballots, with each board member’s selection read aloud once collected.
The board selected Student as vice president in a 7–2 vote, with McGoey, Mehigan, Stone, Jeff Bravo, Joe Fisicaro Jr., Harmon and Student voting for Student, and Everhart and Barbagiovanni voting for Barbagiovanni.
Several members of the public also shared their feelings about the newly seated board and the future of the district.
Marlton Middle School teacher Tracy Brown, who also serves on the BOE in her hometown of East Greenwich, said she was concerned Evesham’s mayor or town council might influence future decisions of board members.
“Most cities keeps these governing bodies separate for a reason,” Tracy Brown said. “The elected school board should be able to insulate the schools from any mayoral or town council influence.”
Randy Brown has been a vocal opponent of the board’s 6–3 decision last March to close Evan’s Elementary School in the 2017–2018 school year due to declining enrollments across the district.
With the newly seated board, and three of the members who voted to close Evans no longer serving, members of the public have been active on social media and in public questioning if the new board might reverse the decision.
Evesham resident Dan Meyers, who lives in the Arrowhead development near Evans Elementary and has spoken at several public meetings against the closing of the school, did not mention Evans specifically when he spoke at the meeting, but urged the board to remember its vows and responsibilities.
“You did see also what the people in the Evesham community voted for,” Meyers said. “They knew exactly what the issues are in this town, and you guys were elected to represent us.”
The next meeting of the Board of Education is scheduled for Jan. 26 at 7 p.m.
