New School Board Member Appointed In Warren Township

WARREN, NJ — Stephen Toor was selected by the Board of Education to fill the seat left open by Daniel Croson at last week's meeting.

The Board voted 5 to 1 to approve Toor's appointment with David Brezee, Natalie Feuchtbaum, Laura Keller, Todd Weinstein, and Patricia Zohn in favor, and Mehul Desai against it. Scott Otto and Ryan Valentino also abstained.

Toor was among three candidates to apply for the position. The other two candidates were Mark Bisci and Rich Karasewicz. All three candidates were asked three questions at the Feb. 27 meeting prior to the vote.

Questions included:

• What motivates you to become a board member?
• Looking ahead to the next 10 months of this seat, can you share what you intend to bring to the board and this district?
• An opportunity to share anything about yourself?

Toor, who has three children in the district, said he wanted to become a board member because he wants to "see the district stay an exceptional school district and get better every year."

He added that his family benefited from many of the special services the district offers in a way that impressed him.

"Having benefited in the way we did I view it as anything as an obligation, a nice obligation, but an obligation never the less to make a contribution and see that continue moving forward," said Toor.

The Board deliberated in closed session for about an hour before deciding on Toor.

Board President David Brezee thanked all of the candidates for applying.

"As you can imagine it was not a quick discussion for good reason. We had no wrong decision," said Brezee. "It was refreshing to see three strong candidates."

Toor previously ran for a seat on the Board of Education in November 2022 and lost to Otto, Feuchtbaum, and Zohn. Toor received 1,202 votes in the election. Read More: Updated 2022 Election Results: Warren Committee, School Board

Toor will be filling in to serve out the remainder of Croson's term through the next reorganization meeting in January 2024. The 2024 unexpired term will, however, go up for a vote in the November 2023 general election.

If interested, Toor would need to file to run in the November 2023 election for the unexpired 2024 term.

Croson had served on the BOE for the past year and was recently appointed as Board President. On Jan. 26, Croson was then unanimously appointed by the Warren Township Committee to fill the remaining term of Michael "Mick" Marion. Read More: Daniel Croson Appointed To Fill Open Warren Township Committee Seat

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