UPDATE: Seven have applied for Mitchell school board seat

School board plans to interview candidates on Sept. 15

By Ruth Luse, Managing Editor
   As of noon Monday — the deadline for applications — seven Hopewell Township residents had expressed interest in being considered for the school board vacancy created by the July 31 resignation of Linda Mitchell.
   The person picked to fill Ms. Mitchell’s seat will serve until the organization meeting following the April 2009 annual school election.
   The school board plans to interview qualified candidates at the regular meeting on Sept. 15, beginning at 7:30 p.m. at 425 S. Main St., Pennington.
   Following deliberations, the board will appoint and seat the replacement member at that regular meeting or at a future meeting to be announced.
   Those who applied are: Deborah Chitester, of Newman Court, Hopewell Grant, a housing development located west of Brandon Farms; Laura Desai, of Federal City Road; Edward Rankin Gainsborg Jr., of Washington Crossing-Pennington Road; Brian J. McHugh, of Masters Way, Brandon Farms; Leigh Ann Peterson, of Maple Lane; Kim Robinson, of Harbourton-Rocktown Road; and Neil Seftor, of Blake Drive, Hopewell Grant.
   — According to a Web site, Ms. Chitester is a self-employed bilingual speech-language pathologist with Second Language, Literacy & Learning Connection, Pennington.
   — Ms. Desai teaches Spanish at Richard C. Crockett Middle School in Hamilton Township.
   — Mr. Gainsborg served a member of the Hopewell Valley Regional Board of Education from April 1999-April 2008, when he lost his bid for re-election. He is a forensic scientist III with the New Jersey State Police.
   — Dr. McHugh, who has a degree in chemical engineering, works for GlaxoSmithKline in Pennsylvania. He was an unsuccessful school board candidate in the April 2008 election.
   — Ms. Peterson, who is employed by Lehman Brothers, Inc., has a bachelor’s degree in distributed studies — economics and French.
   — Ms. Robinson, who has been a stay-at-home mother for the past 10 years, worked in the financial auditing field.
   — Dr. Seftor, who holds a bachelor’s degree and doctorate in economics, has held research positions for Mathematica Policy Research from 2001-present. He was an unsuccessful board candidate in April 2007.
   The letters of application, received by Board Secretary Robert Colavita, were to have included qualifications, resume, and reasons for wanting to become a board member.