Rose Enjoys Chance to Serve Kids and Community

She had been getting more and more involved in politics, working on individual committees and serving on the Board of Education, before an opportunity opened for a spot on the Bridgewater Township Council.

Councilwoman Christine Henderson Rose was appointed in January to the position to fill a spot left by Patrick Scaglione when he was elected last November to the Somerset County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

"The party of the person who has left appoints someone to serve until the next general election," Rose said. "I'd been active in the township, and when this came up, I decided to take the next step."

Rose is running for the position against Democrat, and Finderne resident, John P. Rooney.

Now, Rose said, she is required to run in the first open election after her appointment, and will be running as the Republican incumbent to finish out Scaglione's term, which ends in 2011.

"And that means if I am elected, I will run again next year," she said.

A 36-year Bridgewater resident, Rose was born and raised in Somerville, and moved to the township after she married her husband Bill.

"There were not many options for apartment complexes at the time," she said. "So we moved to the Finderne section."

From there, Rose said, she moved to Martinsville when her younger daughter, Erin—she also has a son, Bryan—was a little over one year old.

"From there, we never saw the need to move," Rose said. "The schools are good, and it was close to work, so I could get to my kids at the schools in a moment's notice."

"I never had the need or desire to live anywhere else," she added. "Bridgewater has a nice combination of green space and shopping opportunities, and the town has been well-governed."

Rose currently serves as the principal director of the planning and program unit in the county youth services office, but her initial plan had been to be an English teacher.

With an undergraduate degree in English from Hartwick College, in Oneonta, N.Y., Rose found there were no jobs to be had as a teacher in 1971. In 1982, she graduated from Rider University with a master's degree in education with a specialty in guidance and counseling.

Then, as a licensed professional counselor, Rose said she began working for the Family Crisis Intervention Unit for the county about 22 years ago. And eight years into that job, she moved to the Office of Youth Services with the county, before beginning to work with the county's Juvenile Justice System in 1993.

"I worked as a community resource specialist," she said. "It was the community work I love, and I found someone would pay me to do it."

Working in that department, Rose said, she staffed to all the municipal youth services commissions in the county, before taking on her current job as director in 1996.

"I do all planning for juvenile justice," she said. "We look at mental health needs of children and their families, as well as child abuse prevention."

For Rose, she said it is the opportunity to work with kids and the community, which is, she said, "a nice combination."

Aside from this work, Rose has been teaching psychology classes for the University of Phoenix online since 2004.

But in the early 1990s, Rose said, she decided she wanted to get involved in Bridgewater specifically, beginning with the Board of Education, which she served on for six years, two of which were spent as board president.

"My kids were in school at the time, and I realized that if I wanted to make a change, I needed to do it sitting at the table," she said. "That was my motivation to get involved."

When her kids graduated from the district, Rose said, she looked at that as an opportunity to get more involved in the township government, and served on the Open Space Committee and the Board of Adjustment.

"I got more involved in the Republican Committee," she said. "There were openings, and I was asked to serve so I agreed."

And when she began serving on the council, Rose said, she learned that the best thing to do was to learn everything she could about the township.

"I came in in January with the understanding that the most important thing I could do would be to listen because there were significant things to learn," she said. "I take classes through the League of Municipalities, and I'm listening, then asking questions."

Things like the budget process and other aspects of government, Rose said, have provided an eye-opening experience for her over the past months.

"The thing that surprised me was understanding the relationship between the mayor and administration and council," she said. "The budget process was eye-opening, and a good way to hear about what all the departments do."

As she continues her campaign, Rose said she has enjoyed knocking on doors, and talking to the residents about what matters to them in this election season.

"I am meeting people in the community, and seeing parts of town I have not seen before," she said. "I have been well-received, and some people are appreciative that I have taken the time to knock on their doors."

For the most part, Rose said, she has been hearing concerns about the budget and the economic environment.

"The budget and recognition of this being tough times is what I hear," she said. "People talk about keeping taxes down and other things."

Aside from her government work, Rose said, she enjoys walking in county parks and bike riding.

"I like being active," she said. "I have a chocolate lab, so we walk."

As Rose continues with her campaign, she said she is enjoying her opportunity to both work for the county as a whole, and serve her individual community.

"I work in a county that is fiscally managed well, and I can be creative," she said. "People are often in jobs that can get stale, but the work I do is never stale."

The general election will be held Nov. 2.