Brian Graime has been elected to serve as president of the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District Board of Education for 2022.
Graime succeeds Dotty Porcaro in the position. Porcaro served as president for the eight preceding years. She remains a member of the school board.
The board held its annual reorganization meeting on Jan. 4.
The first order of business was the oath of office taken by Graime, David Ferber and Jesse Tossetti. The three men were the winners in the November 2021 school board election.
Graime and Ferber are two of Manalapan’s eight representatives on the board and Tossetti is the lone representative of Englishtown on the board.
Tossetti succeeds Lori Semel as Englishtown’s representative. Semel did not seek re-election in 2021 and concluded nearly 20 years of service on the board in December. Tossetti will serve a three-year term.
Ferber won his first three-year term on the board. Graime, who won re-election, is a veteran member of the board who said his new term will be his final term on the panel.
Graime, Porcaro, Ferber and Tossetti are joined on the board by Gerald Bruno, Ryan Urgo, David Kane, Christine Parisi and John D’Amato.
The first item of business following the oaths taken by Graime, Ferber and Tossetti was the election of the board president for 2022. Porcaro nominated Graime for the position and all nine board members voted “yes” on the nomination.
“I want to thank the community for allowing me another term,” Graime said. “Thank you to the board for allowing me the opportunity to lead us in 2022.”
Turning to Porcaro, Graime said, “Thank you, Dotty. Your public service to this community and this board in tremendous.” On behalf of the 2021 board, Graime presented Porcaro with a personal gavel.
The next item of business was the election of a vice president. Ferber nominated Bruno for the position and all nine board members voted “yes” on the nomination.
Bruno said, “I would like to thank everyone for allowing me the privilege of serving as vice president this year … I think we are going to have a terrific year.”
Porcaro, Graime, Parisi, Urgo, D’Amato, Kane and Bruno welcomed Ferber and Tossetti to the board, and Porcaro, Parisi, D’Amato, Kane, Urgo, Ferber and Tossetti wished Graime and Bruno good luck in their leadership positions.
School board members serve without compensation.