Dana Galiano and Dawn Wallace were sworn in as newly elected members and John Schmus was re-elected for his 11th term.
Some new faces joined the Voorhees Township Board of Education during the board’s annual reorganization meeting last week.
Solicitor Howard Mendelson swore in newly elected members Dana Galiano and Dawn Wallace, as well as returning member John Schmus, who will be starting his 11th term.
“My priority this year is the same priority it’s been the last 30 years for me, and that is to put the children of Voorhees first and foremost all the time,” Schmus said.
Wallace and Galiano ran for the open seats in last November’s election because they want to be more involved behind the scenes and are hoping to bring change and a new perspective from parents who have children in the school district.
“I’ve been on the parent faculty group for the past three years, and I feel like we needed parents on the board that were more in tune with those who have kids in the school system. That’s one of the driving forces,” said Galiano, who has two children in the school district. “Hopefully, we will change things up a bit and bring a new perspective to the board, a perspective of what the parents are looking for.”
“A lot of things are popping up on our radar now, things that could be changed from what we hear from teachers, students and parents and what we’ve dealt with, and informing some of the board members that don’t have children in the schools,” said Wallace, who has three children in the school district.
Richard Nelson was selected as president and Bruce Karpf was selected as vice president.
The board of education’s upcoming meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 25 at Signal Hill Elementary School.
