P.O. Box 909 ● Trenton, NJ 08605-0909 ● Phone: 609.695.7600 ● Fax: 609.695.0413 ● Web: www.njsba.org/PI

School Board Member of the Year to be Honored at Statewide Conference

TRENTON, October 24, 2008 — New Jersey’s School Board Member of the Year – Cynthia Auberger of the Vernon Township Board of Education in Sussex County – will be honored at a statewide education conference on Wednesday, Oct. 29.

Auberger, a school board member for 15 years, will be recognized during Workshop 2008, the annual training conference that attracts approximately 10,000 education officials and other participants. The three-day event runs from Oct. 28-30 in Atlantic City, and Auberger will be honored during the opening general session, starting at 1 p.m. Oct. 29 in Hall A of the Atlantic City Convention Center.

The New Jersey School Boards Association (NJSBA), a statewide federation of local school districts, established the School Board Member of the Year program in 2005 as a way to showcase the contributions of the more than 4,800 local board of education members in the state. An independent panel from the Pennsylvania School Boards Association selected Auberger from nominations, which were made by other board members, superintendents, business officials, school district staff or the community.

Currently vice-president of the Vernon Township school board, Augberger is also president of the Sussex County School Boards Association. She volunteers as a group leader who trains first-year school board members at NJSBA’s New Board Member Orientation program, which all school board members are required by state law to attend. She also is involved in advocacy in both Trenton and Washington, D.C. She is part of NJSBA’s EAGLE program (Education Advocates Grassroots Lobbying Effort), which consists of local board members who work with their state legislators to bring about change to benefit public education. She also has taken part in the Federal Relations Network, traveling to the nation’s capitol to discuss education issues with New Jersey’s Congressional delegation.

Auberger has earned the designation of Master Board Member through NJSBA’s Board Member Academy, a program that recognizes advanced levels of training among school board members. Only 188 board members have achieved the rank since NJSBA created the program in 1992.

She is president of the Kiwanis Club of Vernon Township, senior vice president of the VFW Ladies Auxiliary Post 8441, a member of the Vernon Township Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary. Over the years, the wife and mother of three adult children has volunteered as a Girl Scout Leader and served as secretary and curator for the Vernon Township Historical Society.

The Oct. 29 general session at Workshop 2008 will not only honor Auberger, but it will also recognize New Jersey’s Teacher of the Year, Jeanne Muzi of Lawrence Township, Mercer County; New Jersey’s Superintendent of the Year, Dr. Dominick A. Potena of the Margate School District in Atlantic County; and New Jersey’s School Business Administrator of the Year, Karen Dunn of the Union Township School District in Union County. The keynote speaker at the session will be Nancy Giles, commentator for CBS Sunday Morning, who will speak on “Teaching Matters.”

Workshop is sponsored by NJSBA, the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, and the New Jersey Association of School Business Officials.

The New Jersey School Boards Association, a federation of district boards of education, advocates the interests of school districts, trains local school board members, and provides resources for the advancement of public education.