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

Harry J. Delgado Elected NJSBA President, 2008-2010

NJSBA’s New President Calls on Board Members to ‘Set the Record Straight’

TRENTON, May 19, 2008 — A 13-year veteran of the South Brunswick Board of Education in Middlesex County was elected president of the New Jersey School Boards Association at the organization’s annual meeting on Saturday.

NJSBA, a federation of the state’s local boards of education, provides training, assistance and advocacy for public school districts. Harry J. Delgado, the choice of the organization’s nominating committee, was elected by acclamation.

“Over the next two years, it will be critical that all New Jersey boards work as a team. Local school governance is under attack,” Delgado told the delegates after his election at a conference center in Plainsboro. “State officials are diverting the blame for New Jersey’s fiscal crisis away from their own actions and toward local school boards. Their rhetoric has no substance; their argument no merit.

“Part of the state’s game plan is legislation and regulation that is far more intrusive, far more illogical, and far more micromanaging than anything we’ve seen before,” he said. “It’s time for the 4,800 men and women who serve their communities as board members to stand up and set the record straight.

“State and federal legislation, enrollment shifts, rising costs and dwindling resources create a call-to-action for local school boards to speak with one voice in support of our communities and their children.

“I would not have served as a local school board member for 13 years if I did not believe in the concept of local governance of the public school,” he said. “Nor would I have served NJSBA as an officer if I did not understand its value to our members.”

For the past four years, Delgado served as NJSBA’s Vice President for County Activities. He is a former president of the Middlesex County School Boards Association and represented the county on the state association’s board of directors. He has also served on the nominating committee of the National School Boards Association and is a member of that organization’s Hispanic caucus. Delgado and his wife, Nancy, have two daughters, Ashley and Bella. He is a captain with the South Brunswick Police Department and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Education and Human Resources Management at Seton Hall University.

Approximately 140 delegates from all 21 counties attended Saturday’s meeting.

The NJSBA delegates also elected the following local school board members to serve as officers for 2008-2010:

• Peter J. Calvo, Glassboro, Gloucester County, Vice President for County Activities
• John Bulina, Tabernacle Township, Burlington County, Vice President for Finance
• Eva M. Nagy, Franklin Township, Somerset County, Vice President for Legislation/Resolutions.

NJSBA’s outgoing president Kevin E. Ciak, of the Sayreville Board of Education, will assume the position of Immediate Past President.

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.