The West New York Board of Education decided to stick with Adam Parkinson as president for the fourth year in a row, but the governing body was unable to reach a consensus when voting for a vice president.Â
The meeting began with the swearing in of Joseph Rodriguez, Jonathan Castaneda and Adrienne Sires, the latter the wife of U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-8), who pulled off a clean sweep in November under the “Your Children’s Future” banner.
Rodriguez, the husband of Freeholder Caridad Rodriguez (D-7), left immediately after being sworn in since his wife had surgery earlier in the day, which prevented her from attending the board of chosen freeholders reorganization meeting.
Prior to naming the board president, Superintendent of Schools Clara Brito Herrera expressed great confidence in both the newly elected trustees and the board as a whole.
“It will be a no nonsense board and I am so looking forward to work with someone who doesn’t have an agenda, and what I mean [is] that I’m working with true leaders in education: that is the board that you see here tonight – and I am more than honored and privileged, I’m gonna say blessed,” she exclaimed.
The vote for Parkinson went smoothly, 8-0, with Rodriguez absent and he was quick to thank his colleagues, the teachers and the rest of the administration for being bestowed the honor.
“Once again, I think this is a clear testament to what we’re doing in our school district. As the superintendent said, we have three extraordinary school board members who I personally couldn’t be more proud of, who are now serving,” he began.
” … 2018 was a great year for the West New York school district, you could almost ask yourself: how could we be better? We’re a future ready school district, we’re a high performing school district,” he continued, noting that the current board could set the bar even higher.
Just when it looked like things we’re going to go off without a hitch after Castaneda nominated Trustee David Morel for vice president, Maite Fernandez nominated Damarys Gonzalez.
Castaneda, Parkinson, Sires and Morel all voted for Morel, while Fernandez, Gonzalez, Trustee Ron Scheurle and Trustee Jose Mendoza preferred the second option.
With the tie at four votes a piece, Parkinson confirmed with Corporation Counsel Lester Taylor that it would be permissible to wait until the next meeting to try and establish a new VP.
