Board of Education Needs New Member

The must interview and select a new board member at its next meeting in January otherwise the county superintendent will be given the responsibility to select a new member for the board.

A vacancy exists since the board accepted Karen Peterson's resignation at the Nov. 21 meeting. According to Board Member Rich Dellaripa, Peterson resigned for personal reasons.

Business Administrator George Hagl said Monday the board has until the end of their next meeting Jan. 9 to interview and select a candidate to fill the empty seat on the board. But as of Monday, Hagl said he has received no letters of interest from prospective candidates. Hagl said one person inquired about the position, but did not follow up further.

This is not the first time this has happened with the Bloomingdale board, Hagl said.

"There was one time 65 days had expired and no candidate came forward," he said. Hagl said this was at least five years ago.

In that situation, a person who had expressed interest after the 65 days had expired was selected by the Executive County Superintendent of Passaic County to serve on the board.

In March, while being interviewed about his candidacy in the board of education election, Dellaripa said he is concerned that so few people show interest in serving on the Bloomingdale school board and that it has been a "chronic problem" over the last several years.

"We've been accused of having a revolving door membership on the board," he said.

In the March election, Dellaripa was the only candidate to file a nominating petition to run for the board while three seats were open. The two additional seats were filled by

Those interested in applying for the board of education seat can mail a letter of interest by 4 p.m. on Jan. 9 to the Bloomingdale Board of Education, Attn: George Hagl, School Business Administrator/Board Secretary, 225 Glenwild Avenue, Bloomingdale, NJ 07403. Candidates will be interviewed by the board and then voted on by board members.