There is new leadership on the Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education as a new president and vice president have been elected to lead the board.
The board held its reorganization meeting onMay 9 at the district’s administrative offices in Englishtown.
Heshy Moses, who is Freehold Borough’s representative to the board, was unanimously elected to serve as the board’s president. Moses, who was vice president during 2010-11, succeeds Ron Lawson, one of Howell’s two representatives on the board, as president.
Jennifer Sutera, who is Manalapan’s representatives to the board, received unanimous support to serve as vice president for the next 12 months.
Three new members were sworn in to begin serving three-year terms on the board, which oversees the operation of the district’s six high schools and 11,800 students.
Carl Accettola of Colts Neck, Michael Messinger of Marlboro and Maryanne Tomazic of Freehold Township were sworn in on May 9.
The board’s current law firm, Schwartz, Simon, Edelstein and Celso, of Morristown, was reappointed through the end of June.
The board has started to examine the possibility of retaining a new law firm. In April it was announced that the field of potential law firms had been narrowed to three firms and that interviews with representatives of those firms would be held.
Moses announced on May 9 that the interviews would be delayed so the new board members can receive and review all of the necessary information.
Prior to opening the meeting to public comment, the board announced that certain administrators who were listed on the agenda as receiving raises would not receive an increase at this time. Those employees will remain at their current salary.
It was noted that any employee who is a member of a collective bargaining unit that is due to receive a raise will receive the increase.
Raises for the individuals who are not represented by a collective bargaining unit may be negotiated at a future time, administrators said.
Members of the public, while satisfied to learn that raises would not be given to certain administrators, still voiced their objection to those proposed raises and noted that some of the proposed raises amounted to more than 25 percent. They asked the board members not to consider such significant increases going forward.
On another matter, a student from Colts Neck High School spoke about what he described as some teachers’ political views being expressed in classrooms.
Sophomore Danny Banks said some of his teachers have been displaying anti- Gov. Chris Christie stickers in their classrooms. He said the display of such material has made it uncomfortable for him to discuss his opinions about current events.
Christie and the New Jersey Education Association, which represents a majority of Garden State teachers, have been at odds over a number of issues related to education .
After listening to what Banks had to say, the board’s attorney, Stephen Edelstein, said he would have to examine the particulars of the situation, but he said his first impression upon hearing the student’s comments was that teachers should not have any materials proselytizing in the classroom.