Interim Board
While all three boards of education have made their selections on which three board members from each will serve on the interim regional board of education for the recently approved regional district, only the Highlands Board office responded to a request for names of their choices.
Highlands Board of Education president Rebecca Kane-Wells, Diane Knox and Irene Campbell will represent that board on the interim board of education until an election in November 2024 will give the public their first opportunity to vote for board of education members for the newly approved PreK-12 school district.
The trio was approved at Monday’s regular board meeting.
The Atlantic Highlands representatives for the interim board were named at their meeting Tuesday evening and the Henry Hudson members, two from Highlands and one from Atlantic Highlands, were approved at their meeting Wednesday evening.
All nine appointees will serve both on the interim board of education as well as on their individual boards of education until January 2025, when the members elected in November of next year will assume the office fully. The time frame will enable the new board to re-organize and make initial plans for the newly formed district.
All nine interim board members were named and voted on during the open portion of each board meeting, so persons in attendance would know each of those selected.
In explaining why she chose to be a member of the newly designed interim board, Kane-Wells does not look at the new position as any extra work or “double duty,” given her long and dedicated history of volunteering for numerous activities in Highlands. The board member has been in the Highlands Fire Department since 1999, served as Chief in 2009 and is currently a department senior lieutenant. She served five terms on Highlands Borough Council, was a commissioner on the Highlands Housing Authority, a trustee to the Tri-District Education Foundation and remains chair of the local board. “Being chosen to sit on this Board will allow me to continue working regionalization until complete,” the active volunteer said.
Kane-Wells also said she is interested in Sea Bright becoming a member of the new regional district, pointing out that she is a taxpayer “and our taxes have only been on the rise, so anything that we can do to defer the tax base should be entertained.” She added it was unfortunate that the Department of Education did not entertain the Sea Bright petition for this election, “so we had to move forward to complete a mission that was started in the 1970’s.”
The board president is looking forward to “an exciting time for our towns as we collectively regionalize our education systems. Being a 1995 graduate of Henry Hudson Regional I am excited for the months and years ahead.
