Board Picks Petrozelli

At an open public meeting which began at 7:30 p.m. last night and finished nearly four hours later, the Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education elected Daniel M. Petrozelli to fill the School Board seat vacated by Anda Cytroen who resigned in September.

A happy Daniel Petrozelli after his appointment to the Board
of Education.  (Dick Bergeron Image.)

Mr. Petrozelli is a licensed electrician, a seven-and-a-half year Bridgewater Township resident, and has a daughter who will be entering elementary school in this district.

He served in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service from 1983 to 1986, and earned his Associate’s Degree from Raritan Valley Community College in 1989.  Petrozelli worked his way up the ladder in his trade and is currently employed by Local 102 of the IBEW in Parsippany, where he works as a certified instructor to electrical apprentices.

In a process which was completely transparent and open to the public for observation, the Board interviewed 11candidates who were queried separately in the conference room at the Wade Administration Building.  Of thirteen people who had submitted applications, eleven showed up.

Each person was allotted five minutes, during which time they were asked to explain why they wanted to be on the Board; what skill sets and experience they would apply in their role as a Board member: and, what ideas did each have to improve the educational and budgetary issues facing the School District.

This was followed by a five-minute questioning period by individual Board members, including a one minute summary by each candidate.

There even was a touch of high technology in the process, as Jacqueline Barlow, one of the candidates who was out of the country on business, was accommodated by the Board – she joined the process via a Skype video conference call.

Peter Starrs, Board Secretary, administers the oath of office
to newly appointed Board Member, Daniel Petrozelli.
(Dick Bergeron Image.)

You might think, as I did before the meeting, that this method would be ungainly and insufficient, given the large number of candidates and the seemingly little time allotted to each person.

But you, as I was, would be surprised, because it became clear right from the outset that the candidates came prepared, and individual Board members kept their questions concise and to the point. 

New Jersey law requires that a majority vote of Board members is required to fill a vacant seat.  That means five votes would be required to appoint a person, yet only six of eight board members were present.

It could have been a very long night, perhaps past midnight, but the first pass narrowed the field of eleven candidates down to four, Daniel Petrozelli, Jacqueline Barlow, Melanie Thiesse, and Hao Song.

It quickly became obvious that the Board members who were in favor of their preferred candidates would now have to make an even stronger case before their peers in order to avoid an impasse – the Board was still short of the required five votes.

Consequently, deliberation continued with what, at times, was an impassioned, but civil discourse that further narrowed the field down to what appeared to be two surviving candidates, Petrozelli and Barlow. 

With Petrozelli seeming to have a marginal lead in the polling, Board Member Jeffrey Brookner suggested an up-or-down vote on that candidate, and Petrozelli was unanimously elected to fill the open slot.

A downside last night is that so many qualified people showed up to make his or her case before the Board, but only one could be chosen. 

I hope that the community has not heard the last from some of those.  It takes guts to put yourself through that process.