Almost Half Of Berkeley Board Of Education Members Appointed, Not Elected

Swearing in a new board member is getting to be a familiar routine at Berkeley Board of Education meetings this year.

was the latest. He was sworn in at the Aug. 16 board meeting to replace former board member . Parks resigned on May 25.

She said in her resignation letter she was leaving because of the "lack of professionalism of the members of the Berkeley Township School Board and the mismanagement of Berkeley Township taxpayers funds in reference to the hiring of an interim superintendent.

The nine-member board now has four members on the dais who were not elected.

They include:

• Reuter, 34, Scott Drive. Reuter lost a bid for a board seat in 2011, when he ran with Louis J. Tuminaro. He said during the campaign the board had become "politicized" and wanted to put the focus on students. He was also a strong supporter of former superintendent Joseph H. Vicari.

“Me and Lou feel very strongly that people can have their politics, but that politics has no business on the school board,” Reuter said then.  “People on the school board need to be unified in working for parents and children and not for a political party.”

• Louis J. Tuminaro, 41, Deal Avenue. He previously served one term on the board, from 2007 to 2010. He lost bids for a second term in 2010 and 2011. He was appointed earlier this year to fill one of the seats vacated after former board members John Bacchione and Thomas Grosse won seats on the Township Council. He was also a strong Vicari supporter.

has left board meetings early several times since he was appointed to leave for his job as a maintenance worker with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. The Aug. 16 board meeting started at 6:30 p.m. He left the meeting at 7:36 pm.

Board President Steven delayed the public portion of the Aug. 16 meeting so Tuminaro could give his buildings and grounds committee report before he left to go to work.

• John MacMoyle, Northern Boulevard. MacMoyle was appointed earlier this year to replace former longtime board president James J. Byrnes, who was appointed to a seat on the Township Council. Byrnes is president of the Township Council.

• David M. Ytreboe, Manhattan Avenue. He was appointed to replace one of the two seats left vacant when Bacchione and Grosse were sworn into the Township Council.

MacMoyle, Tuminaro and Ytreboe are being up in November by Patrick Mooney, Pheasant Drive, George A. Kaminski, Ravenwood Drive, Lieto Bento, Browning Avenue, Donnie Clyburn, Second Avenue, and Keith Fisher, Pheasant Drive.

There's also a race for the one-year unexpired term created by resignation.

Reuter and Lauren Ciccone-Zawada, Mill Creek Road, are both vying for the one-year seat.