BOE to select new member from a field of nine candidates

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — The Bloomfield Board of Education met Tuesday, Oct. 17, to interview applicants to fill a vacant board seat. Ten people had submitted resumes to replace Gladys Rivera who resigned her position this past summer. One applicant for the opening has since withdrawn his application.

The person who is appointed by the board will serve until the January 2019 reorganization meeting. This would leave one year of the term remaining because Rivera won a three-year term in November 2016. This third year of the term would be contested in the general election of 2018.

If the board cannot decide on an appointment by Oct. 27, the decision will be made by the county superintendent. According to the school district business administrator, Vicky Guo, the board has 65 days from the date of Rivera’s resignation, Aug. 23, to make its selection.
The candidates who were expected to be questioned this past Tuesday evening were Shane Berger, LisaAnn Ciccarone-MacVicar, Jennifer Guidea, Jawaria Haque, Mike McLaughlin, Benjamin Morse, Christopher Russo, Michael Scuello, and Dick Wolfe. Berger and Morse have previously served as board members.

Each candidate was to be given 15 minutes to answer the same five questions. The questions were to be answered in an open, public session of the board however without any other applicants for the appointment present.

“These are questions we have used in the past,” said BOE president Emily Smith.
Once all the applicants have given their answers, the board will go into closed session. At this time, Smith said the board will “see if there are any one or two candidates that rise to the top.” She said with so many candidates, the board was “playing by ear.”

“The candidate has to get three or more votes to be considered,” she said. “What we’re left with, we’ll discuss to see if we can come to a decision.”

She said she expected a decision Tuesday night. If the board were to come to an agreement in closed session, it could swear in that candidate that night. However, if the board cannot come to a decision in closed session, a special session may be called before Oct. 27, Smith said.