Election victors sworn in during brief ceremony at reorganization meeting
Correspondent
BRICK — The Board of Education elected Dr. William P. Boyan as its new president and Brian DeLuca as its vice president at the May 1 reorganization meeting.
Now in his fifth year on the board, Boyan was elected in 1999 and served as vice president for the past two years. Married with three children, Boyan is a medical doctor with a practice in Brick and is an active member of various parent and youth recreation organizations.
Boyan thanked the board for the "confidence they’ve shown in me" and said he hopes he can live up to it.
DeLuca, an operations manager for a financial institution, was elected to the board in 2001. He and his wife have three children, two of whom are currently students at Brick Memorial High School and Veterans Memorial Middle School. DeLuca is also active in parent booster organizations and youth coaching.
With their hands on family Bibles, the newly elected members of the Brick Board of Education took their oaths of office and swore to faithfully, impartially and justly perform all the duties of their new positions.
Catherine Lindenbaum, the newest member of the board, edged out John Talty by two votes for the seat vacated by Lauren Kelly. Incumbents John Paredes and Daniel Woska retained their seats in the April 15 school election.
Paredes thanked the residents who voted for his ticket and the school budget, which was defeated at the polls by 276 votes. He noted that the 2003-04 budget is now before the Township Council and Mayor Joseph Scarpelli for review and possible reductions.
The council can recommend cuts to the budget, or leave it as is. The board then must decide whether to adopt the council’s recommendations or to appeal to the state.
Paredes thanked the other candidates for running issue-based campaigns and singled out John Talty for his graciousness in defeat. Talty, who was present at the meeting, did not ask for a recount and offered his support to the newly elected members of the board.
Prior to the oath of office ceremony, two Brick Township High School seniors were presented with laptop computers from the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of New York. Carol Paredes and Monica Ward were the winners of a tri-state area essay contest that was open to all public high school students. English teacher Jayne Caravella and English Department supervisor Barbara Bittenbinder were also honored for their dedication to the students of Brick Township High School.