Majority Slate On Colts Neck School Board To Get Committee Chairs

COLTS NECK, NJ — The Board of Education will have its second regular meeting of the new year Wednesday night, and assignments to board committees will be announced, with only the Colts Kids First teams members named to chair committees, based on the agenda.

The meeting is at 6:30 p.m., Jan. 24, in the Board Room of the Administration Building at 70 Conover Road.

Board President John Camera, voted president of the board at its reorganization earlier this month, makes the appointments and has named his Colts Kids First slate members to head committees.

Here are the assignments, as presented on the agenda:

• District representative to New Jersey and County School Boards Associations: Angelique Volpe.
• Buildings & Grounds/Safety & Security: Kevin Walsh, chairperson; Brenna Dillon, Jason Orrico and Vincent Rugnetta, committee members.
• Communications: Vincent Rugnetta, chairperson; Amy Dimes, Jessica Ramirez and Angelique Volpe, committee members
• Curriculum: Jessica Ramirez, chairperson; Amy Dimes, Vincent Rugnetta, Kevin Walsh, committee members./
• Finance/Negotiations: Jason Orrico, chairperson; John Camera, Alison DeNoia, Kevin Walsh, committee members.
• Policy: Jessica Ramirez, chairperson; Alison DeNoia, Jason Orrico, Angelique Volpe, committee members.
• Advocacy & Government Relations: Angelique Volpe, chairperson; John Camera, Brenna Dillon, Jessica Ramirez, committee members.
• Ad-Hoc Committee for Arts, Sports, & Extracurricular Activities: Vincent Rugnetta, chairperson; Brenna Dillon, Jessica Ramirez, Kevin Walsh, committee members.

Camera will also appoint board liaisons:

• Parent Advisory Committee: Brenna Dillon
• Colts Neck PTO: Amy Dimes
• Colts Neck Township Committee: John Camera
• Colts Neck Township Senior Citizens: Kevin Walsh

Camera is also named the mentor for new board members Jason Orrico and Angelique Volpe; Ramirez is the mentor for Vincent Rugnatta and Kevin Walsh.

The Colts Kids First team - Orrico, Walsh, Rugnetta and Volpe - swept the Colts Neck Board of Education election this past November.

Board President Heather Tormey, the only incumbent seeking re-election, was not voted back into office. The other members of her Collaboration, Communication, Consideration team were also not successful in their bids for first terms on the board.

Other board members still completing terms, who are not affiliated with Colts Kids First, are Alison DeNoia, Brenna Dillon and Amy Dimes. None of them has chairperson positions on the committees.

The nine-member board now has six self-avowed "socially and fiscally conservative" members, John Camera, now president, said in November.

Camera was elected in 2022 on the slate, along with Jessica Ramirez and another candidate who could not be seated because he did not live in town at the time of his candidate filing. That unexpired term was won by Volpe.