The Gloucester Township Public Schools Board of Education met for its monthly session Oct. 26, publicly interviewing five people for an open board seat, then nominating and approving a candidate.
The board’s vacancy stems from the resignation of Carolyn Grace, who joined Gloucester Township council following the resignation of Scott Owens earlier in October
During the board meeting at Ann A. Mullen Middle School. board President Mary Jo Dintino publicly interviewed Dena Hendry, Dolores Johnson, Vonetta Hawkins, Jasmine Robinson and Kia Gore-Lipscomb. The board received a sixth application from Leslie Soto-Munoz, but she withdrew before the meeting’s interviews started
Following the same questions asked of all five candidates by Dintino, the board entered an executive session to discuss the candidates.
According to Solicitor Dan Long, the board has 65 days since Grace’s resignation to appoint a new board member before the Executive County Superintendent would have to fill the seat. The board could have waited until the following board meeting to fill the seat, as the deadline is Monday, Dec. 14.
Upon returning from the executive session, the board nominated two individuals for the open seat. It voted 5 to 3 against appointing Gore-Lipscomb; her three yes votes came from Dintino and fellow board members Jennifer O’Donnell and Mark Ann Johnson.
The board then voted 5 to 2 in favor of Robinson, with Jennifer O’Donnell and Mary Ann Johnson voting no and Dintino abstaining.
With her appointment to the open seat, Robinson will undergo a criminal background check before her swearing-in, expected to take place at the next board meeting.
Resident Sam Sweet objected specifically to Robinson during the board meeting’s public comment, citing her political ties.
“I’ve been on the record as saying that politics should not be part of this board,” Sweet said. “One of the names on the list is involved in politics … so I think as a board, you should possibly think about that when voting on these people.”
Sweet said Robinson had previously served as treasurer for the reelection campaign of Mayor David Mayer in 2017; Sweet ran against the mayor in the primary.
On another meeting topic, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Tim Trow gave a presentation regarding statewide assessment results for township schools. Although the assessments were not completed last school year because COVID-19 shut down in-person instruction, the district must still give a presentation on the topic.
Trow reminded the public of numerous district initiatives that have been underway in recent months and years, including the 100-percent availability of Chromebooks for remote-learning students, SMARTBoards in nearly all classrooms and expansion of the district’s Early Childhood Preschool Program.
In reviewing available data and statistics, Trow discussed the past five years of district proficiency rates in ELA (English Language Arts) and math compared with the state.
“Our first year, we were frankly a little embarrassingly low … with our scores,” said Trow. “Over the past five years, we have brought ourselves up where we are slightly below the state average, but still showing significant growth.”
Along with increased growth, Trow was also encouraged by the district’s increased participation in tests over the past five years.
To see the full presentation and results from the district’s state assessments in recent years, visit www.gloucestertownshipschools.org for more information.
The board’s next meeting will be Monday, Nov. 23, again at Mullen middle school.
