Garwood School Board Member Declared Ineligible

Editor's Note: A follow-up to this story has been posted.

Brendan McDermott, a member of the Garwood Board of Education, has been declared ineligible to serve by the state Department of Education because he failed to complete a required criminal background investigation.

McDermott was on the list released Thursday by the New Jersey Department of Education of 186 school board members and charter school trustees statewide who did not complete the background exam by the Dec. 31 deadline.

McDermott, Garwood Board of Education President Adele Lewis and Garwood Superintendent Teresa Quigley could not be reached immediately for comment.
 
The school board members/charter school trustees must vacate their positions immediately, according to state Dept. of Education spokesperson Allison Kobus.

Additional school board members or charter school trustees may yet have to forfeit their positions, according to Kobus. Some board members or trustees filled out the forms improperly or failed to pay the required fee, she said in a news release.

The background checks were required by the New Jersey general assembly in legislation passed last year, to require school board members and charter school trustees to meet the same standards required of school teachers. If board members or trustees show up for meetings, they could be charged with a fourth degree crime.

New Jersey is apparently the only state to require the background examinations.