WESTWOOD REGIONAL DISTRICT—Three departing trustees were honored for their service to Westwood Regional School District Board of Education, the K-12 school district serving families in Westwood and Washington Township.
Two of the trustees lost reelection Nov. 8.
Honored were Westwood’s Roberta Hanlon (18 years of service) and Michelle Sembler (three years of service), and the Township of Washington’s Joseph McCallister (one year of service).
The trustees were recognized with plaques and proclamations praising their public services contributions.
They were recognized the for their “rational approach to the decision-making process to a number of difficult board decisions” and having “rendered valuable and dedicated service to the students, staff, and citizens” to their respective towns.
The proclamations recognized each trustee for having “given generously of (their) time, effort, and abilities in the interest of promoting and supporting the best educational opportunities for the children and youth of our school district.”
It also thanked each trustee for fulfilling their obligation as a member of the board of education and who was frequently required to do so at a personal sacrifice.
During his update, administrator Keith Rosado confirmed the official Nov. 8 election results. He said in the Township, one three-year term went to Douglas Cusato with 1,737 votes, versus 1,462 votes for Joseph McCallister.
In Westwood, two open seats for three-year terms were won by Jason Garcia, with 1,940 votes and Laura Cooper, with 1,803 votes. Sembler finished third with 1,699 votes.
Meanwhile, the Westwood Regional Board of Education seeks a Township of Washington citizen to fill an unexpired term expiring on Dec. 31, 2023. Interested citizens must be registered voters in the Township of Washington. Send a resume and letter of interest describing your interest in serving on the Board no later than Jan. 17, 2023 to Keith A. Rosado, Board Secretary, Westwood Regional Board of Education, 701 Ridgewood Road, Township of Washington, NJ 07676.
Roberta Hanlon
Hanlon, a beloved Westwood crossing guard, did not run for reelection this year. She thanked all the residents “who did vote for me or didn’t vote for me” over her 18-plus years on the board.
This year she chaired the negotiations committee and served on the finance and facilities committee.
She said at the meeting. “This is a job that not everyone is going to like everything we have to say.” She noted members step up “to do what’s right and what’s best for all.”
She said she has been involved in Westwood since the 1970s, including a stint on the Borough Council.
She said during the pandemic, one resident had called her “feckless” multiple times and she said she “took it, the attacks and the good that come with it” as a board member. She said her tenure on the board took her just four months short of 19 years of service.
She defined feckless — lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible — and said, “No, sorry, I’m not taking that. One thing a board member is never — whether you agree with what we’ve done over the years or not — none of us are that.”
She said had her critic done “just a little iota of research” into the district, they would have found a district “millions in the hole in special education” when she joined the board. She said she was part of the board group “that changed this district around … so I won’t accept that.”
She said the board also helped improve school buildings and brought on a new business administrator.
“I appreciate all the work of everybody I’ve worked with. I wish the district well. There’s a lot more work to be done, and I’m not going away,” Hanlon said.
She said she’s a resident “who has been involved and will be involved.”
After she finished, the board and audience applauded.
In her most recent campaign for reelection, she received an endorsement from a former colleague, Carol Mountain, who said in a letter to the editor that Hanlon “is a lifelong citizen of Westwood who clearly has been dedicated to her community. She is especially focused on the well being of our children and to the importance of education.”
Mountain said, “I have known Roberta for over 20 years and her commitment to children has been evident in every one of those years. In addition to her years as a WWRSD Board of Education trustee she has been on parent committees at our schools, volunteered at teen events at the community center, been a Boy Scout leader and though her sons are grown now she is on a committee that approves Eagle projects and Eagle rank.”
Mountain served with Roberta on school committees starting in the 1990s. “We were also often the only people who regularly attended BOE meetings for many, many years. I served with her on the BOE for about 10 years. She has always been committed to serving the school community.”
Michelle Sembler
Sembler, who served on the curriculum and programs committee this year, was named board vice president in January, elected unanimously following nomination from Township of Washington resident Frank Romano III, who rose to president for 2022 at the board’s Jan. 6 reorganization meeting.
He had been in the role for the prior six months, following the resignation of the former board president.
In his endorsement of Sembler — who joined the board after campaigning with Westwood Police Chief Michael Pontillo, who joined the board in the next cycle — Westwood resident Michael Pierro wrote Pascack Press in part, “She has shown great poise, character, credibility and grit on a very active board.”
He said, “Time and time again she has proved to be a diligent and vocal member when parents needed her most, fighting to get our district back to normal after Covid wrecked havoc on our education system, a strong proponent of the SLEO program we adopted this year to add security to each of our schools, and keeping a keen eye on the age-appropriateness of curriculum many parents voiced concern over.”
When Sembler was elected, she thanked voters and her colleagues for their support and said she would work to “continue to move this district in a positive direction. I see brighter days ahead of us.”
Joseph McCallister
McCallister, of the township, filled a one-year unexpired term. He served on the curriculum and programs committee.
Westwood resident Lisa Bontemps was one of many endorsing McCallister in these pages, saying in part, “His intelligence, clear grasp of what the board is and is not responsible for achieving, are evident in these meetings as well as the recent candidate forum conducted by the League of Women Voters.”
Bontemps added, “His composed demeanor, particularly when being directly attacked by fellow trustees for speaking the truth and calling out falsehoods spread on social media about the new health curriculum, confirmed my instinct that he is the right person to be representing all of the Washington Township and Westwood children.”
McCallister told us in the election, “Being a trustee on a New Jersey board of education calls for putting aside personal agendas, politics, and disagreements and working with colleagues of diverse and varied perspectives to come up with solutions that best serve the students and the district as a whole.”
He said, “This is not easy work. We all come to the table with good intentions, and might find ourselves wondering why others don’t see the world our way. But by communicating openly and cooperating to find common ground, we can, as a board, embody what it means to be a community.”
During the board meeting, members thanked the three departing trustees for their service, collegiality, friendship, and commitment to the district.
— With John Snyder