Lawrenceville Woman Elected Region VP For National School Public Relations Association

A Lawrenceville woman has been elected as the Northeast Region Vice President of the National School Public Relations Association, the New Jersey chapter announced on Friday.

Lana Mueller, a member of the New Jersey chapter, is the Operations Manager at Lawrence Township Public Schools.

She is in charge of internal and external communications and public relations for the district.

The New Jersey chapter elected six new officers to the association’s executive committee for the 2016-17 school year. Only one of the officers retained their previous position.

Lori Perlow, of Cherry Hill, was elected president of the New Jersey School Public Relations Association (NJSPRA).

Perlow formerly held the office of Vice President of Communications, and has organized the group’s awards program for the past two years. She has been the Admissions Officer/Community Liaison at Mercer County Technical Schools since 2010.

“I am looking forward to continuing to work with the Executive Committee and our membership to advance NJSPRA’s mission and raise the stature of the school public relations profession in New Jersey,” Perlow said. “We are growing and thriving, and it’s important to build on the foundation we’ve created to continue to do more great work in the years to come.”

In addition to Perlow, the other officers elected were:

• Janet Bamford, of Pennington, as Secretary; she formerly was on the group’s Advisory Board. Bamford is the Manager of Communications and Publications at the New Jersey School Boards Association.
• Nancy Dries, of Millburn, who was re-elected as Treasurer. Dries is the Coordinator of Communications and Community Outreach at Millburn Township Public Schools.
• Laura Geltch, of Burlington, as Vice President of Communications. Geltch is the Program and Community Coordinator at the Burlington County Special Services and Burlington County Institute of Technology School District.
• Laura Bishop, of Winslow, as Vice President of Membership; she was the group’s President for the previous four years. She is the Managing Principal of Laura Bishop Communications.
• Maren Smagala, of Three Bridges, as Vice President of Programming; she formerly was the group’s Secretary. Smagala is the District Communications Coordinator at North Hunterdon-Voorhees Regional High School District.

The group’s Advisory Board is made up of Marianne Kligman, Lorre Korecky, Marilyn Lehren, Susan Marinello, Liz Scott, and Andrea Tahinos.

The officers were elected over the summer and started their new positions on July 1.

NJSPRA is the New Jersey state chapter of the National School Public Relations Association, a professional organization dedicated to building support and trust for education through responsible public relations that leads to success for all students. Members include school public relations professionals and administrators representing school districts statewide.

The organization is dedicated to: promoting best practices for educational communications in New Jersey; advancing the field of school communications, providing communications training in the field of education; building understanding and support for school public relations; maintaining a forum for the exchange of ideas about the profession.

Patch file photo