During their monthly meeting on Jan. 22, the Delran Board of Education discussed several new updates, approved various activities and took time to honor educators of the year and the Burlington County Times soccer player and coach of the year.
The meeting began with the recognition of the 2020 Governor’s Educator of the Year honorees. Kristin Howe was named the Millbridge Elementary School Educator of the Year, Brett McLaughlin was named Delran Intermediate School Educator of the Year, Jonathan Skivr was named Delran Middle School Educator of the Year and Gabriella Acevedo was named the Delran High School Educator of the Year.
Karen Macey was named the Paraprofessional of the Year, while Bobbi Jo Gormley was named the Educational Services Provider of the Year.
Frankie Taylor and Michael Otto were also honored at the meeting. Taylor was named the Burlington County Times Boys Soccer Player of the Year, while Otto received the Burlington County Times Boys Soccer Coach of the Year honors.
“We wanted to acknowledge our teachers during a meeting when we didn’t have a lot going on,” Delran Board of Education President Glenn Kitley said. “We wanted to put the emphasis and the importance on these awards for both the educators and the soccer awards.”
After the award presentations, the board updated the public on agenda items, including the resignation of board member Colin Rafferty and the process of appointing his replacement.
“We had a board member resign and right now we are in the process of trying to fill that position. As for our process, we have (the position) listed on our website and legally it has to be up for at least 10 days. We post it for longer than that because we don’t want to limit our public from being able to join the board,” Kitley said.
“People will then respond to it and we will interview them to see what skills they have and what they could bring to the board. Also, why they want to be on the board,” Kitley added.
According to Kitley, once the new candidate is appointed, they will have an unexpired term for one year and then, during the next election, will be able to run for the final third year of the term.
Outside of the update on the board vacancy, the board also made it a point to emphasize the importance of learning through experience. During the Curriculum portion of the agenda, the board approved several high school and middle school activities and field trips.
These activities included science fairs and trips for the life skills class, cultural club, German club, the robotics team and the music department. According to Kitley, it’s essential for kids to learn in the classroom, but also understand how the things they learn apply to real life.
“These field trips give students the tangible and practical aspects of learning as opposed to theoretical that you have read in a book. You go out into the world and you see things and the practically of what you already learned in school and see how it applies,” Kitley said.
“The field trips are important to supplement what you learned in the classroom, but also are learning experiences in and of itself.”
