SOUTH COUNTY: First K-12 school board members may be named before Tuesday

Merger update coming 7 p.m. Tuesday at South Hunterdon

    County Superintendent of Schools Gerald Vernotica said he hopes to be able to announce his selection of the nine members of the initial K-12 three-municipality school district before Tuesday’s town hall meeting to discuss the progress of the regionalization initiative.
    The meeting, which will go over the merger process and developments of the past two months, will be held 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, in the commons area of South Hunterdon Regional High School, 301 Mount Airy-Harbourton Road, West Amwell Township.
    On Sept. 24, voters in Lambertville, Stockton and West Amwell approved moving forward with combining the three local and one high school district into one pre-kindergarten-to-grade 12 school district. The vote was historic and overwhelming – an overall margin of 7-1.
    Currently each of the three municipalities has an elementary school, with 7th through 12th graders attending South Hunterdon Regional High School.
    A transition team of members of the four boards of education has been meeting with Dr. Vernotica.
    On a separate track, he has reviewed resumes and interviewed applicants who want to be considered for appointment to the first K-12 regional school board.
    He said he hopes to name those people before — or at — Tuesday’s meeting.
    The board will be made up of five people from Lambertville, three from West Amwell and one from Stockton.
    He said he had 18 people express interest in being on that board.
    The town hall meeting will provide an update on the transition team’s purpose and progress, give some information about the steps going forward and will offer some opportunity for community members to ask questions and provide input.