Kathy Judge, Carol Matlack Take Over School Board Leadership

After more than two and a half years, the Cherry Hill school board will have a new leader.

Kathy Judge, who was just re-elected to her seat, was unanimously voted to become the board’s president, replacing Seth Klukoff, who had served the maximum two years—and then some, thanks to the shift to a November election an the resulting delay in reorganization—under the board’s bylaws.

Judge, who had served as vice president alongside Klukoff, joked that she won’t even take a stab at trying to fill her predecessor’s shoes.

“I’m not even going to try,” she said. “I’m just going to go down another path.”

With Judge sliding into the president’s chair, the board also voted unanimously for a new vice president, choosing Carol Matlack, who’s been a board member since being appointed to fill an open seat in December 2010.

For Judge, being the board’s vice president since 2010 gave her plenty of time to consider moving up in leadership.

“I couldn’t sit there and not be willing to take the next step forward,” she said.

Having already gone through several major moves—from hiring current Superintendent Maureen Reusche to negotiating a new teacher contract and extending the school day by 30 minutes, Judge said the number one issue in her mind over the next few years is what to do about the district’s aging buildings, many of which date back to the 1950s and 60s.

As a longtime member of the strategic planning and business and facilities committees, Judge will take the somewhat unusual step of remaining on both committees while serving as president.

“I want to remain on due to that, because we need to do something in the next couple of years about our aging facilities,” she said.

Klukoff, who remains part of the board, despite having to step aside from the presidency, praised the choice of new leadership and said Judge will continue what’s been a legacy of strong leadership from the president’s seat.

“She and Carol will continue to move the board forward,” he said. “I have all the confidence in the world about them.”

In other business at the reorganization, Klukoff was chosen to be the township’s Camden County School Boards Association Executive Committee representative.

Matlack was also returned to her post as the local representative to the New Jersey School Boards Association, and Judge left herself on as Cherry Hill’s representative to the Camden County Educational Services Commission, at least through June.

The board also added new member J. Barry Dickinson, who was sworn in following his victory in November.