New BOE Member 'Committed to Serving My Community'

Two months after winning a seat on the Hanover Park Regional Board of Education, Charlene Peterson was sworn in for her first three-year term.

Peterson, a 16-year resident of Cedar Knolls, said she ran for the board "because I am committed to serving my community and found my last board experience to be very rewarding."

She also received encouragement from outgoing board member John Corona, who told Peterson nine years of experience on the Hanover Township K-8 school board "would be a benefit to this board," Peterson said.

Since Peterson's oldest son, now 25, started high school, Peterson said she has witnessed the district "making great strides in improving student achievement opportunities for all of its students." In her time on the board, she hopes the district will continue making improvements for the students.

Those served by the Board of Education can expect Peterson to do more than fill a chair in her tenure on the board, if her past record is anything to go by. While on the Hanover Township Board of Education, Peterson said she "chaired and served on every committee, [and] was board president for two years during the hiring of a superintendent."

Peterson also served as the chair of negotiations through three union contract cycles and three supervised contracts, experience she thinks will be useful as the board faces a referendum to improve the athletic facilities at both high schools later this year.

She eventually became a certified board member, completing over 30 hours of training from New Jersey School Boards. She was appointed to the Board of Directors on the Morris County School Board for four years, two of them as vice president, and to the Morris County Professional Development Committee. She has also been nominated as the state's School Board Member of the Year.

Peterson is already working on the board's behalf. As of the district's reorganization meeting Monday, she will serve as the board's representative to the county Board of Education.

Education is not only a volunteer activity for Peterson: It's also her profession. Peterson is the director of The Adult School of the Chathams, Madison and Florham Park.

Peterson is a native of Chicago who relocated to Morris County 16 years ago for her husband's job. She, her husband and her two younger children live in the Cedar Knolls section of Hanover Township. Her oldest son lives in Philadelphia.