Brick School Board Welcomes 2 New Members, Gets Ready To Work

BRICK, NJ — The Brick Township Board of Education welcomed two new members on Jan. 5 at its annual reorganization meeting.

Madeline Iannarone and Frances DiBenedictis were sworn in to three-year terms on the board, replacing Melinda Gagliardi and Daisy Haffner, who did not seek re-election.

Stephanie Wohlrab was re-elected as the board president, though not unanimously as Iannarone nominated DiBenedictis and voted against Wohlrab. DiBenedictis abstained on the vote for president.

Nicole Siebert was elected board vice president.

The next board meeting is 7 p.m. on Jan. 17 at the professional development center, and high on the list of topics to be discussed will be the district's budget for 2023-24.

Brick Township was awarded $475,639 in state stabilization aid in December.

The state education department announced the stabilization aid awards to 42 districts on Dec. 23, hours before schools were shutting down for winter break. Nearly $30 million was distributed, with the state saying it prioritized applications based on equipment, supplies, technology, and furniture; purchase of school buses and other transportation costs; textbooks, if not requested and funded in Fiscal 2022 Stabilization Aid; and one-time security costs.

Brick Township has faced millions in cutbacks because of aid cuts under S2, the law that has dictated cuts in state aid to Brick and nearly 200 other districts the state has deemed to be "overfunded" under the state aid formula.

A lawsuit led by the Brick Township Schools over the formula and the NJDOE's refusal to release key data about the formula, is still active in the courts.

The education department said districts applying for stabilization aid "were required to demonstrate how they plan to fund operations in future years when supplemental state aid is not available."

"Districts that received Stabilization Aid funding in Fiscal Year 2022 were also required to describe how they implemented their Fiscal Year 2022 stabilization plan and how they will navigate the remainder of the phase-in of Chapter 67 without the need for additional funding," state officials said.