Holmdel school board fills in vacant seat

BY MICHELLE ROSENBERG Staff Writer

BY MICHELLE ROSENBERG
Staff Writer

HOLMDEL — The Board of Education is once again complete.

Phyllis Pascucci was sworn in to the empty seat, which has been vacant for roughly three weeks, at the Feb. 23 meeting.

Pascucci will hold the seat until the April school board election, when the three-year term is up.

The seat was previously held by Thomas Baumlin III, who resigned from the position as of Feb. 1 due to a conflict with his employment.

Pascucci said she has no plans to run for election to hold a seat for an entire term.

She previously served one three-year term, which ended last April.

Pascucci is a longtime Holmdel resident, who has put her own two children through the township’s public school system, Schools Superintendent Dr. Maureen Flaherty said.

Pascucci said her main goal is to use her prior experience to help the board tie up loose ends on various issues.

“There’s a lot of unresolved issues that I felt an experienced board member could help the board with for the next two months, until the next election,” Pascucci said.

The board was previously criticized by parents for not replacing Baumlin, who had missed several consecutive meetings before his resignation.

Board President Susan Howard said Baumlin was not ousted because she was expecting his resignation.

Parents stressed the fact that the board could not afford to have a nonworking member, especially this close to budget talks for the 2005-06 school year, when the district has already faced two failed budgets in the past two years.

Budget talks are expected to begin shortly.