Shortway appointed to school board

The Vernon Township Board of Education appointed Harry Shortway to a vacant seat in a 5-2 vote at its meeting Thursday, Aug. 24.

Board members Charles Cimaglia and Carl Contino voted no. Raymond Zimmerman was absent.

Joseph Sweeney was elected vice president of the board.

The previous vice president, Justin Annunziata, resigned his seat on the board July 20.

Shortway, who is running for mayor of Vernon in the Nov. 7 election, said his school board term ends Dec. 31.

If he is elected mayor, he would be sworn in in mid-January.

Shortway said he applied for the school board post “to gain further insight into the decision-making process at the BOE.”

”Property taxes are my No. 1 concern: 56 percent of our tax dollars go to the BOE; only 24 percent are collected for municipal services,” he said. “Issues need to be identified followed by analysis to present alternative solutions to control taxes and at the same time address the needs of all our students and sustain or even increase municipal services.”

Shortway said that as a former mayor and council president, he knows how important it is to work with the school board to generate solutions.

“As a parent, grandparent and educator, I am concerned about the quality and cost of education.”

Before the appointment, board members interviewed Elaine Colianni, William Higgins, Carly Sesak, Robert Walsh and Mary Beth Ziba in addition to Shortway during a session that was closed to the public, according to the meeting agenda.