Brick School Board 2017 Reorganization Meeting Set

BRICK, NJ — The Brick Township Board of Education reorganization meeting is scheduled for next week, according to the school board website.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 5 in the auditorium at Brick Township High School.

The meeting will include the swearing in of Daisy Haffner and Melita Gagliardi, who were elected in November to three-year terms on the school board. George White, who filled the one-year unexpired term of John Talty, and Karyn Cusanelli, who served since 2012, are stepping down.

The 2017 reorganization meeting should be less eventful than the 2016 meeting, where board members John Lamela, Stephanie Wohlrab, Victoria Pakala and White voted to oust most of the district professionals — counsel, insurance brokers, architects and engineers — as well replace Richard Caldes as interim superintendent minutes after being sworn in.

Sharon Cantillo and Cusanelli raised objections to the moves and it set the tone for much of the last year, where there were frequent conflicts, particularly between Cusanelli and Pakala. In early October the conflict resulted in a shouting match between the two at the end of the meeting.

The bitterness between the two was on display again at the Dec. 22 meeting. During board comment, while Cantillo, John Barton and Lamela offered thanks to both White and Cusanelli for their service to the board, Pakala completely ignored Cusanelli, instead heaping glowing praise on White for more than 2 minutes, giving him credit for projects ranging from the windows project to the lead testing of the district's drinking water, and completely ignoring Cusanelli, leaving the rest of the board squirming uncomfortably.

Cusanelli, who spoke first, expressed her concerns about transparency and board actions, saying, "Politics are poison in a school district."

"Our kids get one chance to go through the system," Cusanelli said.

Karen Wall photo