JACKSON – The Jackson School District Board of Education has appointed former board member Sharon Dey to fill a vacant seat on the panel through the end of 2017.
Dey, who previously served on the board from 2007-16, was appointed during the board’s Aug. 15 meeting. She will take the seat previously held by Barbara Fiero, who was serving as the board’s president when she resigned on July 10.
Fiero served served on the board for 14 years.
Interviews with the six residents who applied to fill the open seat were conducted during an executive (closed) session prior to the meeting. Those residents were Shaun Blick, Elenor Hannum, Rita Lopez, Enitan Rotimi, Tara Rivera and Dey.
On Nov. 7, Rivera, Hannum and Dey will be running for two three-year terms on the board. Those terms will begin in January.
Commenting on her appointment to the board, Dey said, “I was raised to give back to your community and to me, schools are what bring people together, they are the heart of the community. They encompasses all, no matter what academic level you are.”
Dey said special education is “near and dear” to her heart and said that is what got her more involved with the schools before she was ever affiliated with the board.
“The beautiful thing about our schools is that they were just starting an (intensive preschool) program in 2003 and (I) met parents and we started talking. We got together and we really tried to help to make the program that was just starting, better.
“We worked together and did it and then people approached me and said maybe I should consider running for the board because I really have a passion for others. I had not thought about that,” Dey said.
Dey lost a re-election bid in 2016 and said she was not planning to run for a seat again. She said residents encouraged her to enter the race this year.
With Fiero having left the panel, the board’s vice president, Scott Sargent, was elected the new president and board member Vicki Grasso was elected the new vice president. Both votes were unanimous.
