Four File For Vacancy on Somerset Hills School Board

The Somerset Hills Board of Education has received four applicants — Paula Kurschus, Greg DiGioacchino, Richard Robertson and Doug Smoot — for a vacant position for a Bernardsville representative on the regional board that will last until the end of 2013, said Schools Business Administrator Nancy Hunter.

The board is set to meet at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Bernardsville Middle School to interview and potentially appoint a new board member to replace nine-year veteran Jerry Dorr of Bernardsville, who has resigned, according to Hunter.

Hunter said on Monday afternoon that she believes the school board will be discussing the appointments in a closed executive session.

She said the applicants to file include Kurschus, of 4 Dogwood Court; Smoot, of 21 Club Lane; Robinson, of 1 Prospect St., and DiGioacchino, of 46 Somerset Ave. 

The deadline for applying, originally set for April 30, was extended through Monday, May 6, after no applicants were received by the original cutoff date. Hunter initially named two applicants, but added two more in an email following the Monday afternoon deadline.

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.

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.

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 2 percent.