By: centraljersey.com
ROBBINSVILLE – A former kindergarten teacher who now oversees state-funded preschool programs in three New Jersey counties has been chosen by the local Board of Education to fill a vacated board seat.
Vincent Costanza, 35, of Union Street in Town Center, was selected Aug. 31 over four other residents who applied for the seat formerly held by Melissa Foy, who resigned from the nine-member board June 29. Dr. Costanza will hold the seat until voters determine in the April 27, 2011 school board election whether he or someone else will serve the remaining year of Ms. Foy’s unexpired term.
Dr. Costanza is employed as a project specialist for the state Division of Early Childhood Education and monitors Head Start agencies in Essex, Ocean and Hudson counties. The father of a 4-year-old daughter, Dr. Costanza said he hoped to be a voice for families of young children in the district.
The five applicants for the open school board seat were asked a series of questions during the public interview portion of the Aug. 31 school board meeting and given the opportunity to make opening and closing statements explaining why he or she felt they were qualified to serve.
"In my work, I’ve built a career in constructing educational systems in a number of capacities – as an AmeriCorps member, a teacher, an adjunct professor, researcher, policy developer, program specialist and volunteer," Dr. Costanza told the board.
"Despite the different roles, the goal has always been the same: assist the people who make decisions about children by cleansing the lens in which they view education to see that if the program they are building is not good enough for their own child, then it shouldn’t be good enough for somebody else’s child."
The vote was 6-1 in favor of Dr. Costanza’s appointment. Board Vice President Matthew O’Grady voted no and member Thomas Halm was absent.
The four other candidates were: Ann Mika of Edgewood Road, a retired West Windsor-Plainsboro seventh-grade English teacher who served six years on the then-Washington Township school board in the 1970s and 1980s; Wayne Holliday of Prestile Place, who retired from the Monroe Township School District after 25 years of service, including 17 years as its business administrator; Ed Roskiewicz of Jared Drive, a track and field coach at Princeton University; and Evan Schwartz of Sara Drive, a human resource project director for McGraw Hill who frequently attends school board meetings.
The board said the selection process was difficult because all of the candidates were well-qualified.
"You made this really hard for us," Board President Michael Reca told the candidates after the board emerged from a two-hour closed-door executive session to announce its pick.
Board members said they hoped the candidates who weren’t selected would stay involved in Robbinsville education issues.
"I beg you not to let the decision disengage you," Mr. O’Grady said.
After taking the oath of office at the Aug. 31 meeting, Dr. Costanza was asked by Mr. Reca to serve on the school board’s Education Development & Policy Committee and the Community Relations Committee.
Dr. Costanza earned his master’s degree in early childhood education from the College of New Jersey and his doctorate from Rutgers University. He taught kindergarten at the L.M. Rivera Elementary School in Trenton for four years before taking a position at the National Institute for Early Education Research in New Brunswick. He has worked at the state Department of Education since 2007.

