Board of Education names new president
BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer

EATONTOWN - The Eatontown Board of Education named Mark Van Wagner as the board president at its monthly meeting last week.

Van Wagner was appointed by the nine-member board on Jan. 14 to serve the remaining term of former board President John Schiels, which will end in April.

Van Wagner said that he is not planning to seek re-election on the board in April.

Schiels, who served on the board for five years, stepped down from his position at the board's final meeting of 2007 after winning a seat on the Eatontown Council in the November election.

Van Wagner explained last week that Schiels was legally unable to serve on both the Board of Education and the Borough Council because of the possibility of a conflict of interest.

Such a conflict could occur if the school budget is defeated by voters and is sent to the borough council for review, according to Van Wagner.

If a school board member is also serving on council, they would be unable to review the budget from an objective point of view, Van Wagner explained.

Van Wagner has been serving as a Board of Education member for eight years and has also served on the district's construction referendum committee and the operations committee.

The board also announced at the Jan. 14 meeting that Mark Regan will fill the open seat left on the board until the election inApril, at which time Regan can run in the election for the seat.

"What we did was ask the interested parties to forward their résumés, and asked them to [come to the board meeting] if they have something they wished to add or highlight on their résumé," VanWagner said.

Regan was one of two people who submitted résumés to the board for consideration as a new member, according to Van Wagner.