School Board May Appoint Members on Monday

Eight residents were interviewed for two vacant Wyckoff Board of Education seats Thursday night.

Nine residents expressed interest in the seats by a 5 p.m. Thursday deadline, although only eight showed up at Eisenhower Middle School to be interviewed by board members, said board President Daniel Moynihan and Vice President Raymond Hovey.

The board expects to be able to make a decision on the vacancies by its Monday evening meeting, planned for 7 p.m. at Eisenhower Middle School. However, if it is not in a position to make its choices by Monday, the board will likely schedule a special meeting soon to confirm the appointments, Moynihan said.

The school board office has declined to release the names of those interested in appointments, although one resident, Diane Sobin, is among those seeking board approval for one-year unexpired terms. 

The seven-member board lost two members to resignations last month—Matthew Cole and Carl Anello. The responsibility falls on the existing board to fill those seats itself, both of which will open up next year for three-year terms.

The two appointed members will join a board that is losing the majority of its members. Three seats are on the ballot this year, all of which are currently occupied by incumbents who've decided against another run—Moynihan, Hovey and Danielle Swenson.

Only two residents, Catherine Runge and Jill Mortimer, had filed to run for election, leaving the third seat open for the possibility of a write-in candidate. Former board member Tom Rousseau has declared his interest as a write-in, although virtually any resident could achieve the seat. A minimum of 10 votes are required to win what will be a full, three-year term.

Runge, Mortimer, the write-in candidate and two appointed members will join incumbents Elizabeth DiGregorio and Thomas Giamanco to form the reconstituted Wyckoff Board of Education. Voters head to the polls on April 20, and the new board members will take their oaths of office at a reorganization meeting on April 26.