New School Board President Selected In Chatham

CHATHAM, NJ — After a decade of serving as the president of the School District of the Chathams Board of Education, Jill Critchley Weber has passed the baton.

During the annual board reorganization meeting on Jan. 8, the board unanimously voted in Ann Ciccarelli as the president for the upcoming year.

Board member Susan Ross was also voted in as the vice president of the school board, succeeding Ciccarelli.

"Twenty-five years ago today, my father passed away and what I swore that I would do in his memory was someday serve on the board of education wherever it was that my kids were educated. I grew up in Mountain Lakes, my father was the president of the board of Mountain Lakes for at least 10 years, he was on the board for 14–15 years," Ciccarelli said following the vote by their fellow board members on the Chatham Board of Education.

Ciccarelli has been a member of the Chatham Board of Education for ten years.

"Thank you to Jill for all of her many, many, many, many years as our fearless leader and I'm so thankful she's not going anywhere just yet," Ciccarelli said.

Chatham Superintendent Michael LaSusa congratulated the pair, saying that both Ciccarelli and Ross were already a pleasure to work with.

"I think Jill has had a similar impact in Chatham as your dad did in Mountain Lakes. Jill is the longest-serving board president in the history of the school district since its formation in 1988, and the number of hours and level of commitment that Jill Weber has invested in this board and in this school district and this community is absolutely extraordinary. Thank you for everything that you've done over the past decade and beyond that. We all owe you a lot," LaSusa said.

Board members Weber and Bradley Smith took their oaths of office before proceeding with the rest of the meeting. Board member Michael Ryan was absent from the meeting, so his official swearing-in will be postponed until the February meeting.

A new student liaison for the board of education was also named at the Monday night meeting, replacing Riley Druhot, who served as the first student representative in the district.

Ahana Gupta was named as the non-voting student liaison for the new year.

Last year, the role was dedicated to reporting at each meeting on what has happened in the high school since the previous meeting and what the entire student body believes is significant.