Schools

Berkeley School Board Has More Than Its Share Of Appointees

Dawn Parks' recent resignation means another vacancy on nine-member Berkeley Board of Education

 

Whether or not the Berkeley Board of Education will fill the vacancy created when Dawn M. Parks resigned from the board remains to be seen.

Business Administrator/Board Secretary Laura J. Venter left a message with her secretary Debbie Kulka today in response to a Berkeley Patch inquiry about the deadline for applications.

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"She won't know anything until the board the next meeting, until the board decides what they want to do," Kulka said.

Parks submitted her resignation letter on May 25. Her term would have expired in 2013.

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"I've had it," Parks said today. "There's no organization there, and nobody willing to work with anybody. It's a sad atmosphere."

Parks said in her 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."

"I do not want my name associated in any way with this Board's discussion and their improper use of taxpayer funds," the letter states.

The Berkeley board already has three sitting members who were not elected, but appointed earlier this year.

The board exodus began back in November, when former members Thomas Grosse and John Bachionne were elected to the Township Council. They were sworn in on Jan. 1.

Shortly after that, former longtime board president James J. Byrnes announced he was resigning from the board. Byrnes was then appointed to the Township Council to fill out former Councilwoman Karen Davis' Ward 1 seat.

The Berkeley board then subsequently tapped John MacMoyle and Louis J. Tuminaro to fill two of the vacant seats. Tuminaro previously served one term on the board, from 2007 to 2010. But he lost bids for a second term in 2010 and 2011.

The third vacancy was filled shortly after by David Ytreboe. All three men must run again in the November school board elections, Venter has said.

The nine-member board now has five elected members - President Steven M. Pellechia, Vice-President James Fulcomer, Salvatore Ferlise, Noreiko Kowalewski, and Sophia Gringrich.

Fulcomer, Ferlise and Kowalewski's terms expire in 2014. Pellecchia and Gingrich's terms expire in 2013.


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