Board of Ed. reorganizes
By sue m. morgan
Staff Writer
OLD BRIDGE — Dealing with a defeated school budget and finding a new superintendent of schools are two of the biggest challenges facing the reorganized Board of Education, which welcomed two new members and chose a newly re-elected incumbent as its president April 23.
Longtime member Gail Kubicke and newcomers Dr. Joan George and Frank Piccillo were flanked by family members as they were sworn into their three-year terms by Dr. R. Gregory Quirk, assistant superintendent of schools.
Unanimously voted in as board president and vice president, respectively, were Kubicke and Annette Hopman, another veteran member.
Kubicke replaces outgoing board president Frank Weber, who lost his bid for re-election in the statewide school election April 16. The board members presented Weber with an engraved plaque expressing their appreciation for his service to the board over seven of the past nine years.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Daniel Rodriguez praised Weber for his contributions and input by saying that future boards should anticipate hearing him speak as a concerned citizen.
Other members also noted that they will miss Weber’s presence as well as that of outgoing member Robert Volkert, who did not seek re-election.
Before taking a seat in the audience, Weber thanked Rodriguez and his colleagues for the recognition, and wished them success in meeting the coming school year’s challenges, particularly the placing of the revisions of the defeated budget into place.
The defeated budget is now before the Township Council, which has hired an auditor to assist in making the modifications.
The board will also be seeking a new superintendent to replace Rodriguez, who will resign from the K-12 district effective July 1, for a similar position in Oregon.
Kubicke, a township resident since 1973, works as an administrative assistant at Douglass College of Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She is the mother of a high school senior, as well as two daughters who graduated from the district.
George retired as assistant superintendent for personnel effective March 1. A township resident since 1960, George worked in the district for 41 years as both an educator and administrator.
Newcomer Piccillo, an assistant principal in the Jersey City Public Schools, has three children in the district — two at Sandburg Middle School and one at McDivitt School.
The reorganized board will also be working to implement a $66.7 million school construction referendum, which was approved by voters in September. That referendum will eventually consolidate the district’s two high schools onto one campus by connecting the present day Carl Sandburg Middle School with the current Old Bridge High School East building. School officials have stated that the present Old Bridge High School East will subsequently be converted to a middle school.