Ciak named vice president of N.J. School Boards Assoc.
Kevin Ciak
Longtime Sayreville Board of Education member Kevin Ciak has been elected as the New Jersey School Boards Association’s vice president for county activities.
Ciak, 28, was named to the position during a special Delegate Assembly meeting in East Windsor in June.
The previous vice president was also a longtime board member from Middlesex County, Patrick Sirr of East Brunswick. Sirr lost his bid for re-election to the East Brunswick school board in April when six candidates vied for three seats.
Ciak will serve as vice president at least through May.
"I’m looking forward to the opportunity to serve board members and children across the state in this new position," Ciak said. He added that he wants to "be a visible presence in the counties across the state, and bring those counties together as a strong voice for children’s education."
First elected to the Sayreville school board nine years ago when he was 19 years old, Ciak spent five years as president. He was re-elected to a three-year term on the local board in April.
He has served two years as president of the Middlesex County School Boards Association. He has also received the Master Board Member designation through the state school board association’s member academy, and was named board member of the year for 2002-03 by the Middlesex County School Boards Association.
In his new position, Ciak said he has three major goals. He would like to increase participation by board members at the county level in training endeavors as well as in creating forums for exchanging ideas. Another goal of his is to bring board members together from across the state to strengthen their voice in Trenton.
"There are many issues at the state level that affect education," he said, "and we need to bring board members together as one voice on those issues so that the children’s educational needs are represented."
His final major goal is to explore options for board members to take more advantage of Internet or CD-based training programs.
"Board members give a substantial amount of time between meetings and district events, and it would be a win for us to be able to take advantage of training in our own homes," he said.
In addition to his volunteer work with both the local school board and the statewide organization, Ciak works full time as the chief information officer for GE Thermometrics, a division of GE Industrial Systems, Edison.