By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Cherry Hill Board of Education took another step toward naming an interim board member. The 14 candidates were whittled down to four finalists who will be interviewed next week.
The board named Tom Baldwin, Andrew Behrend, Carol Matlack and Robert Russo as finalists for the unoccupied seat.
The seat was vacated in October after Lynette Howard resigned from the position after she was accused of stealing more than $70,000 from the First Baptist Church in Cherry Hill. She faces charges of theft by deception.
The candidates were scheduled to be interviewed by the board in a public session on Tuesday, Dec. 14, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Malberg Administration building, just prior to the board’s regular monthly work session, Public Information Officer Susan Bastnagel said via a press release.
The new board member will be installed at the Dec. 21 action meeting, she said. The interim appointment will continue until the board’s reorganization meeting following the next school board election in April 2011.
During the elections there will be three seats open, Bastnagel said. Two will be full-term, three year seats, she said. The other will be Howard’s seat, which still has a remaining two years attached.