Stipelman Sworn in as President of Manalapan-Englishtown BOE

During a May 3 reorganization meeting, two new members and one incumbent were sworn into three-year terms on the Manalapan-Englishtown Board of Education. Additionally, two veterans will lead the panel during the 2011-12 school year.

Newcomer Ralph Cafaro and Dotty Porcaro, who had previously served on the BOE from 2002 to late 2006, took the oath. Board Member Michele Stipelman, who successfully won reelection on April 27, was sworn in and chosen as president. Board Member Lori Semel became vice-president.

Prior to the vote among the nine member board, Joseph DePasquale accepted a nomination from Porcaro to be president. He made a brief pitch to be president.

“You know I’ve given my heart and soul for five years,” DePasquale, a local business owner, said. “A couple of you think that I don’t have the time to afford the office of president, I want to put your mind at ease and tell you I do have the time. If I thought that I couldn’t handle it I would not be doing it. I would not jeopardize this board and I would not jeopardize this district – two things I have a passion for.”

DePasquale concluded with the notion that the board members should vote “with their hearts.”

Stipelman was nominated by veteran Board Member James Mumolie.

“I have been president before so I know what the job entails – both vice-president and president. In the past year, I think I’ve shown the board members that I do come prepared. I read everything, and I know what’s going,” said Stipelman. She also said that she believes she comes with good ideas and can guide the board members to a consensus.

“I will do a good job if you wind up electing me – a good job to the best of my ability,” Stipelman added. 

 Stipelman will be entering her fifteenth non-consecutive year on the board of education. In 2004, she lost a reelection bid after serving for 13 years; at one point during her lengthy tenure, she held the role of Board President. In 2010, she ran successfully for a seat and completed a one-year unexpired term.

Stipelman added that her name appears on the founding plaques of three district schools: Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School, Wemrock Brook, and the Early Learning Center.

In a roll call vote, Stipelman was elected 7-2, with Porcaro and DePasquale voting “no”.

DePasquale congratulated Stipelman as Business Administrator and Board Secretary Veronica Wolf formally turned over the gavel.   

Board Member Brian Graime then nominated Member Lori Semel for vice-president. Semel, who has served since 2002, was chosen unanimously.

“I just want to say that I appreciate the vote of confidence to be the vice-president of the board and I look forward to another great year,” said Semel. “I’d also like to give a shout-out that I’m the representative from Englishtown, and maybe they’ll pass the budget next year,” she added, rousing laughter from the board.

In attendance were three committeemen from Manalapan: Mayor Andrew Lucas, Deputy Mayor Ryan Green, and Committeeman Don Holland. Former Deputy Mayor and a 2011 candidate for Township Council, Susan Cohen, was also present.

“On behalf of the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor and the rest of the Committee I would like to congratulate the newly elected to the Board and also congratulate the Board President and Vice-President,” said Committeeman Holland. Lucas and Green had another engagement and had to leave prior to public comment.

Former Board President Donna Formoso was also present and offered her congratulations. “Some of you I’ll miss more than others,” she joked. “All of you I will miss in my heart. But I am looking forward to retirement – so to speak –without a pension.”

During Formoso's last Board of Education meeting as president on April 26, the board said their official goodbyes. 

Stipelman has worked with Formoso twice, who had been on the board for nine years and president for one year. "I'm proud to be able to say I was the one who asked her to run nine years ago, that just goes to show you I can tell talent when I see it," Stipelman said. "She's done a wonderful job, first as a board member, and I think she has been a magnificent president this last year. So, I applaud her."

The entire board echoed Stipelman's sentiments, wishing Formoso a wonderful time off the board and thanking her for an exceptional job as board president. 

"We've had a lot of hard things happen," Superintendent John M. Marciante Jr. said to Formoso. "Last year's budget was the worst I could ever remember and the year before that we did the restructuring. I couldn't have done those things and I don't think we would've been as successful as a district without you."

Valerie Maglione also said goodbye at the April 26 meeting thanking "residents, fellow board members, and staff." Maglione sat on the board for four and a half years. 

"It was definitely a positive experience for me, not an easy one all the time -- a lot of difficult decisions that we made together, the nine of us -- but something I'll remember as a good experience," Maglione said. 

"I know that every decision you made you took a lot of time thinking and trying to come up with what was in the best interest of the students, and I want to thank you for that," the superintendent said to Maglione.

At the board meeting on May 3, Sanford Brown was reappointed as Board Attorney.  The Board also moved to implement the school board budget, the general tax fund levy and a tax payment schedule, and certified the election results. They approved a curriculum adoption schedule as well as a five-year textbook adoption schedule, a tentative meeting schedule, and re-adopted the News Transcript and the Asbury Park Press as their official newspapers. 

The next Board of Education meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional Schools Administration Building in Englishtown.