Three new members of the Gloucester Township Public Schools Board of Education were sworn in to their seats on Monday, Jan.7
The Gloucester Township Board of Education held its annual reorganization meeting Monday, Jan. 7, at the administration building to welcome three new board members elected this past November.
The ballot listed 15 registered candidates, according to the Camden County Board of Elections, with the three winners of the election being the only three candidates to receive a double-digit percentage of the vote.
Carolyn Grace received 14.13 percent, while Brian Reagan received 13.03 percent, and Anthony Marks received 10.99 percent of the more than 45,000 votes cast.
The three were sworn in together by Solicitor Dan Long at the reorganization meeting before taking their seats on the board and being welcomed by Superintendent John Bilodeau. All members of the board were present for the meeting.
At the meeting, MaryJo Dintino was elected as board president, and Mark Gallo was elected vice president, with the only “no” vote for both candidates coming from Jennifer O’Donnell.
Bilodeau made a few announcements to the board and to the public, saying the efforts of the district and additional organizations to raise money for the family for Michelle Barrett, a Chews Landing Elementary School teacher who died in a car accident in early December, have raised more than $7,000. At a previous meeting, Bilodeau had reported a lower figure.
Bilodeau also stated the board will be posting for an HR position in the near future, however it will have to discuss it a future personnel committee meeting before posting the job opening.
There were no comments from the public during public portion, however O’Donnell did make a comment as a board member near the end of the meeting.
“I will refuse to surrender my independent judgment to special interests or partisan political groups or to use the schools for political gain and for the use of friends,” O’Donnell said.
O’Donnell’s comment is the word-for-word statement made under letter F in the Code of Ethics for School Board Members, according to the state Department of Education.
Speaking as an individual and not a board representative later in a phone call with The Sun, O’Donnell said she takes school board ethics very seriously and wanted to simply state that out loud to remind the board of that specific line.
“I do feel that there is politics on our school board, and I’ve been saying that out loud for the two years that I’ve served over and over again,” O’Donnell said. “In my last year of the BOE, it’s been my goal to get politics off of the board. That’s my intent, that’s my goal.”
She said she was voted in to represent the public and to take everything into account and determine what is in the best interest of the children in the district for the taxpayers.
