Applications for Somerset Hills School Board Vacancy Still Being Taken

The Somerset Hills Board of Education is set to select and appoint a new board member on May 8 to replace nine-year veteran Jerry Dorr of Bernardsville, who already has resigned, but as of Monday no one had applied to take his place.

The deadline for applying, originally set for this Tuesday, has been extended through 3 p.m. next Monday, May 6, said Schools Business Administrator Nancy Lee Hunter. 

"We have not yet received any applications," she said on Monday afternoon.

The new member appointed to the board would be filling the remainder of Dorr's term, which lasts through the end of this year, expiring Dec. 31, 2013.

If that person wishes to fill a standard three-year term after that time, he or she would have to file by June 4 with the Somerset County Clerk's office in Somerville to be included on the ballot in November, Hunter said. That new term would begin Jan. 1, 2014.

Contact Hunter to apply for vacancy through this year

Anyone who wishes to apply for Dorr's unexpired term should contact her at Nhunter@shsd.org, or at 908-204-1930, ext. 1117, she said.

Any applicant should be from Bernardsville, since Dorr fills one of the borough's assigned seats on the regional board, which also includes a fewer number of members from Peapack-Gladstone and Far Hills.

Dorr served on the board for nine years, starting in 2004, Hunter said. He officially resigned earlier this month, and will be honored at the May 8 meeting, which he is expected to attend. The meeting will be held starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Bernardsville Middle School, according to the school website.

Dorr's letter of resignation simply said he was resigning, Hunter said. 

She added she believes he has said wants to spend more time with his family, but wanted to stay on the board until the education association contract was settled, the new superintendent was hired and the 2013-2014 budget was put into place, all of which have been completed.

Board members previously were elected in April, and filled terms lasting through another April. However, the Somerset Hills Board, like many in the state, last year decided to take advantage of a new option of moving the election for candidates to the general election each November. As part of that arrangement, school districts were able to forgo having residents vote on school budgets, as long as increases on spending in those budget remained at or under two percent.