Secaucus school board elections will be held Tuesday, April 19. Five candidates are running for three three-year seats on the nine-member board. Three seats open up each year. There is also a one-year term available on the board, but no one is challenging incumbent John Shinnick for it. Shinnick initially was appointed to the seat after the resignation of George Heflich. The three long-time board incumbents are running again: Board President William Millevoi, Vice President Susan Pirro, and member Eleanor Reinl. Challenging them are William H. Doring, 70, of Harmon Cove and Thomas J. Lawlor, 54, of Third Street.
Current members seeking re-election
Board President William F. Millevoi is married with two children and has been involved in the education field in New Jersey for 33 years. He is serving his second term as president.
The retired high school administrator taught in the Jersey City school system and is the head basketball coach at Ferris High School.
“The results of the present Board of Education speak for themselves,” Millevoi said. “My position on the board has enabled me get the best curriculum, buildings, and education for the children of Secaucus.”
Millevoi has been an advocate for technology in Secaucus schools. He says he introduced the concept of the Science Academy at the high school. The academy, along with an in-progress proposal for a Media Academy, provides students with Advanced Placement courses in addition to the standard curriculum.
The program utilizes community businesses and local expertise to prepare students for a specialized career. Millevoi says there is a hotel management academy also in the works.
“With the new additions at Clarendon and Huber Street School, the high school science labs and 1,000-seat auditorium,” Millevoi said. “we are looking to the best interests of the student body as well as the community.” Susan Pirro, 49, is a single parent with three daughters in the Secaucus school system. Full-time, she works for the Union City Board of Education as an insurance administrator.
Throughout her teenagers’ lives, Pirro has served on numerous boards, committees and volunteer situations. She says she has worn “just about every hat,” including her current posts as school board vice president and PTA member for the elementary, middle, and high schools. She has been a parent liaison/volunteer for the past 15 years.
Pirro serves as a Plaza Central Business Association member and Secaucus Municipal Library fundraising consultant. Running for election was the next step in a long history of involvement with the community.
“I think the cooperation between the board members is very good – anything we try to accomplish, we get done,” Pirro said. “There are no key issues for this race; accomplishments is a better word. I am proud of the hard work we have done and hope to continue.”
Eleanor Reinl is the longest serving elected school board member with 27 years at the helm. She is married with three adult sons and worked as an administrative assistant for various companies including Hartz Mountain Industries and Movado Watch Company.
She says she was very active in the PTA and other school venues when her children were young. Reinl serves on the New Jersey School Board Association’s board of directors located in Trenton.
The Huber Street School PTA gave Reinl a life membership to the New Jersey Congress of Parents and Teachers. She is also the first vice president of Friends of the Secaucus Library.
“The school board is a group effort,” she said. “The accomplishments are due to cooperation among members and the community. My experience, dedication and principles are my strengths. I am my own person. My time on the school board has been a learning process – you don’t come in knowing everything.”
Challengers
Doring, a retired Artillery National Guard colonel, has lived in Secaucus for the last seven years. The Brooklyn native worked for 20 years at Union Carbide in Connecticut, where he held 15 patents for battery-run lighting products. He served in the Navy during WWII and the Marines in Korea. Doring also helped engineer a $350,000 Korean War Memorial in Jersey City.
“I think the school board could use a fresh set of eyes,” Doring said. “I don’t have a political agenda and I know how to get things done.”
Thomas J. Lawlor was born and bred in Secaucus and served 25 years in the police department. The retired officer says he became interested in the school board because of his own school experience. In 1984, he obtained a degree in Criminal Justice from Jersey City State College while on the job. Lawlor works as a security manager for Axa/Financial in Secaucus.
“I’m not unsatisfied with the current school board, but many members have been there for a long time,” Lawlor said. “I would bring new blood into the situation.”
Lawlor is a Navy combat veteran of the Vietnam War. He is married with a 4-year old child.