RBR Board Member Recognized for 35 Years of Service

The Monmouth County New Jersey School Boards’ Association recognized Red Bank Regional (RBR) School Board Vice President Emily Doherty of Red Bank for 35 years of service to the school district at its annual dinner held May 7 at the Colts Neck Inn. Mrs. Doherty joined the board in 1983 representing Red Bank Borough and is RBR’s longest serving board member. She was an original proponent of the award-winning Visual & Performing Arts Academy which was created the same year she joined the board in 1983. She also has been a long-standing advocate of The SOURCE, founded 17 years ago, as RBR’s School Based Youth Services Program. Mrs. Doherty has served on many Board committees with her favorite and longest standing assignments on Negotiation and Curriculum.

Board President John Garofalo states of his colleague, “Emily is a good friend and neighbor who has been the binding force of our board of education. She is an invaluable board member and a virtual walking encyclopedia of board operations. She guided me and other members when we first began our service. She never had a personal agenda and was always about the students.”

Mrs. Doherty has a background in education and received her Masters of Arts in teaching from Wesleyan University; she began her teaching career in the Connecticut public school system. The Doherty family moved to Red Bank in 1973 where all four Doherty children graduated from Red Bank Boro schools and RBR. She taught life science at Bayshore Middle School for the Middletown School District for many years. She also taught French at Oak Hill Academy and tutored at Brookdale College. While raising her children, Mrs. Doherty volunteered extensively with the Girl Scouts and the Red Bank public schools. She also served on the Monmouth Day Care Board. Mrs. Doherty has worked for the State of New Jersey’s Division of Developmental Disabilities for the past 23 years as a case management supervisor.

She states of her long-tenure as an RBR Board Member, “I am devoted to this school district which has helped a multitude of students from many backgrounds and many cultures learn and achieve. I love and enjoy the service and am excited to have some small part in helping such a wonderful institution get better and better each year.”