Dr. Sandra Alberti was re-elected as president of Moorestown’s Board of Education at Tuesday’s reorganization meeting.
With only one vote separating Sandra Alberti and Brandon Pugh, Alberti was re-elected as president of Moorestown’s Board of Education at the reorganization meeting held in William Allen Middle School on Jan. 2. David Weinstein was elected as vice president.
The evening began with the swearing in of three new members to the board. Newcomers Jack Fairchild, Tinamarie Nicolo-Dorfner and Lauren Romano took the oath of office before taking their seats alongside the incumbent board members.The returning members were each vocal during the vote, making their case for their candidate.
Board member Dimitri Schneiberg nominated Pugh with Weinstein nominating Alberti.
Pugh kicked off the opportunity for board comments by making his case for election. He said his passion for the district and the board were his main motivations for running for president, but despite having a “great board” and “phenomenal school district,” there were areas where he saw room for improvement.
“Over the past six months, I believe we have stalled on progress we were making as a board in terms of communication and transparency,” Pugh said.
In June, previous board president Kathy Goldenberg resigned to serve on the State Board of Education, and in July, Alberti was elected as board president with Pugh continuing to serve as vice president.
Pugh outlined several areas where he thought the board could improve, including communication with the public, between board members, between committees and with the media.
“I firmly believe the president is an equal member, but they should be the one coordinating these priorities,” Pugh said. “It’s not our job to lead academics or to do the day-to-day operations.”
He said in June, they established board goals but have not done anything with those goals since. Pugh also addressed a lack of transparency with the public and questioned how the board could better engage with members of the public.
Alberti responded by saying this was the first she was hearing of Pugh’s concerns about her leadership abilities.
“I will just say that the feedback between president and vice president hasn’t happened until just now actually, and so, I regret that,” Alberti said.
Alberti said she has been honored to serve as president for the last six months, and despite having only served on the board for a year, she felt equipped for the position.
“The thought was with a new board member as president and with a standing person with strong leadership skills in Brandon Pugh that that would be a really positive way to approach leadership on this board,” Alberti said.
Alberti said the points Pugh raised in regard to communication were goals she also supported and looked forward to developing leadership around.
Schneiberg followed by saying he viewed Pugh as “eminently qualified” to lead the board. He made reference to Pugh’s leadership roles outside of the board, including his service as immediate past president of the Burlington County School Boards Association and current vice president for legislation of the New Jersey School Boards Association.
“What really resonates with me is the fact that other board members put him in leadership positions at the state level,” Schneiberg said.
He said from his perspective, he has not seen anyone invest as much time, effort and passion in their leadership role as Pugh. He said Pugh has brought the right temperament to build consensus to the position.
“I think one of the most important qualities is that we have a leader that can build consensus; unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing about Dr. Alberti,” Schneiberg said. “I think what we have here as [Alberti] alluded to is essentially a six-month trial. We had Ms. Goldenberg leave for the state, and we had a six-month trial for president.”
Mark Villanueva also chimed in to lend his support to Pugh. He said when he was elected to the board, Pugh was the first person to reach out to him and show him the ropes. He said Pugh has made communicating between both other board members and the public — through his monthly column — a priority.
“I implore that whoever has that honor makes it a priority to improve communications and transparency,” Villanueva said.
In response, Weinstein said he questioned why if Pugh knew Alberti had limited experience on the board, he did not step in more to help her.
“The one thing that I’m disappointed in is if he, knowing that our president was somebody who had little experience, sitting in a role as vice president, why he did not help her to become a better president and to provide her with better support,” Weinstein said.
Board member Maurice Weeks echoed Weinstein’s sentiments.
“I do share some of Mr. Weinstein’s concerns; if you had these concerns about Dr. Alberti’s leadership, you didn’t share them,” Weeks said to Pugh.
In response, Pugh said he had voiced his concerns during their monthly leadership committee meetings, where the president and vice president work with the state and superintendent.
“It’s not entirely accurate that we haven’t worked together,” Pugh said. “These communications have come about.”
Ultimately, the decision came to a 5–4 vote with Alberti, Fairchild, Romano, Weeks and Weinstein voting in favor of Alberti and Nicolo-Dorfner, Pugh, Schneiberg and Villanueva voting for Pugh. Alberti thanked everyone for their support.
“I look forward to taking the criticism as constructive feedback,” Alberti said. “I’ve always prided myself [on] self improvement and reflection. I appreciate everyone’s comments and look forward to working with everybody moving forward.”
In the subsequent vote for vice president, Weinstein was the sole nominee.
Pugh said he planned to support Weinstein in the role and discussed the idea of rotating leadership positions. Weinstein said he and Pugh have previously had discussions about giving different members opportunities to serve.
“It’s good practice for us to rotate,” Weinstein said. “It’s what a lot of governing bodies do. There are nine of us. We are all equal in our vote. We should all have opportunities to lead in different ways.”
The next meeting of the Moorestown Board of Education will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 16 at William Allen Middle School.
