New School Board Members Sworn In, New President Chosen In Parsippany

PARSIPPANY, NJ — Three newcomers were sworn in to serve on the Parsippany-Troy Hills Township Board of Education at the reorganization meeting earlier this month.

Wendy Wright, Andrew Choffo and Timothy Berrios all won one of the three, three-year seats on the board in the November election, beating out nine other candidates, including two incumbents, Matthew DeVitto and Kendra Von Achen.

Additionally, at the meeting, newly elected board member Choffo was elected as president of the board. Incumbent member Susy Golderer was elected as Vice President of the Board.

Both Berrios and Choffo have been vocal about their disapproval of the PILOT agreements that the township council has pushed through in the last couple of months.

Mayor James Barberio has maintained that PILOTs are required to attract developers to destroy superfluous office space in town and replace it with revenue-generating residential or commercial space.

The school board, on the other hand, has repeatedly stated that they believe that the newly approved PILOTs will underfund the school system, even as new developments undoubtedly add additional kids and costs.

Berrios previously said that a district study predicts an enrollment increase of 1,000 students from all of the residential units currently either under construction or being proposed in town.

According to the district, the impact of residential construction has historically brought more students than the developer projected. Modera, Watersedge, and Mountain Way are 200-unit, 30-unit, and 105-unit projects, respectively, and these three developments alone bring in at least 56 kids to the district.

In a public statement, Barberio has since claimed that the Board of Education has been spreading "false and misleading information" to inflame the local community.

The next board of education meeting will be held on Monday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m. at the Dr. Frank A. Calabria Education Center.