High school board appoints
retired med-sci director
ENGLISHTOWN — The former director of one of the Freehold Regional High School District’s specialized learning centers has been named to fill a seat on the Board of Education.
Meeting on Nov. 6 at the district’s offices on Pine Street, board members appointed Marlene Caruso to fill the seat from Freehold Township formerly held by Michael Lynn.
Lynn stepped down from the board in September when he moved from the district. Nine Freehold Township residents applied to fill the vacant seat after Lynn resigned.
"I’m very pleased with the appointment," said Caruso, the former director of the district’s Medical Sciences Learning Center at Freehold Borough High School. "It’s something that I wanted to do, to represent my community, and it’s very nice that the opportunity came along."
Caruso said her first task as a board member will be to study the issues facing the board.
"There’s a big difference between sitting in the audience and sitting at that table," she said. "There are so many things on the plate between the land acquisition, technology programs and teacher training."
Caruso said one area of interest to her will be the transition students make when they graduate from middle school and enter high school.
"That’s why I ran for the board in 1996. I’m honestly concerned with what happens to the students when they exit the elementary level, and we should be working together more closely in all areas," she said. "It’s a feeder system. There should be some kind of continuity."
Caruso comes to the board with a great deal of experience in education. She has been a three-term member of the Freehold Township Board of Education and worked in public education for 25 years as a nurse and later as director of the high school district’s Medical Sciences Learning Center.
She was welcomed to the board by FRHSD Superintendent of Schools James Wasser.
"Ms. Caruso brings tremendous insight. She has experience with the growing population, and I think that her background in education, knowing what quality education is all about, will really help us as we expand in this district with growing enrollments."